-The Hindu Narendra Modi has announced a 21-day lockdown starting from midnight tonight as a major step in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. During the “containment” period of 21 days from March 25, 2020, the following services Will remain open: * Shops, including ration shops, dealing with food, groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy and milk booths, meat and fish, animal fodder. District authorities to encourage home delivery to minimise individual movement. * Banks, insurance offices and...

-The Hindu Business Line Onion prices may be cooling, but food inflation likely to remain high; core inflation a worry Consumers staring at rising prices are unlikely to have much reprieve. Analysts believe that retail inflation may be peaking now but caution that prices will remain high in coming months. So while onion prices have come down, your monthly grocery bill could still be on the higher side for the first half of...

-Livemint.com The government’s inordinately large food stockpiles have resulted in an artificial market scarcity On 7 January, the ministry of statistics released India’s advance estimates of national income for 2019-20, pegging the economy’s growth rate this financial year at 5%. Based on data available for the first two quarters, this seems an overestimate. Most indicators suggest that actual growth may be lower than 5%. This is bad news, especially since there is...

-VillageSquare.in Overcoming taboos and becoming more knowledgeable about abundant local foods, malnourished Kondh people in Odisha are bringing diversity to their food baskets through backyard kitchen gardens Kandhamal/ Kahalandi, Odisha: “Unless we consume a variety of foods that include vegetables and greens, pulses and legumes, and meat and fish along with rice, where will we get adequate nutrition? How can our children have proper physical and cognitive growth?” asked Golapi Kanhar. The question...

-Newsclick.in Even as the growth rate of the Indian economy is slowing down, and the index of industrial production (IIP) is actually showing negative growth for three consecutive months, August to October (over the corresponding months a year ago), the inflation rate in the economy has started accelerating. Significantly, the acceleration in inflation has been the sharpest precisely during these very months when the contraction in industrial output has been the...