An empowered group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee decided to release an additional 500,000 tonnes of wheat and rice every month for sale to ration card holders for the next six months, according to agriculture minister Sharad Pawar. The move is aimed at reining in prices and curbing inflation and will cost the government an estimated Rs2,000 crore. The group met on Wednesday to discuss foodgrain availability...

Could the Great Indian Middle Class be the Great Indian Mythical Class? A proposed new international definition of what constitutes the middle class in a developing country has thrown up a startling conclusion by global standards, India has no middle class. Noted economist Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development, has proposed a new definition of the middle class for developing countries in a forthcoming World Bank publication,...

The guerrilla fighter was tough, experienced, leading a platoon of around 60 insurgents. "I am from a very poor family," the fighter told me. "Life was very difficult. I joined the party and now I understand many more things. I think revolution is the only option." One thing you should know about this hardline Maoist rebel - she is a young woman. She is one of the growing numbers of poor...

Even as the government tries to meet the expectations of the Congress high command on the Food security Bill, it is still trying tricks in the economist's books to keep its food subsidy bill as low as possible. While the Planning Commission has now accepted that it would include community kitchens and existing nutrition security schemes such as ICDS and mid-day meal programmes under the proposed Bill, it is also...

THE government will need to shell out Rs 6,000 crore more in food subsidy to support poor families under the proposed Food security Act due to the revised estimate of the number of poor families in the country. Food subsidy will account for about 1.1% of the gross domestic product in the current fiscal year, compared with 0.9% last year, said a study by Deutche Bank. The Union budget has...