-The Economic Times State levies on grain purchase by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) will reportedly push up the Centre's food subsidy bill by Rs 10,000 crore this fiscal year.  This is absurd and untenable. High taxes and commissions - 14.5% in Punjab and 10.5% in Haryana - on the minimum support price (MSP) of grain jack up the costs of procurement, drive private trade out of these markets, and set...

-Inclusion.in There is good news. And there’s bad news. The good news first. There’s been a bumper wheat crop and the granaries are overflowing. And the bad news? Where do we begin? A lot of that grain will rot. Millions will still remain hungry. Heavily in debt and distressed, farmers are committing suicide. Food prices are soaring. There’s more… Farmers don’t have money. Their land is too small and isn’t yielding much. Fertilisers and...

-IANS The spectre of drought is looming large over Bihar, something that state officials have acknowledged. "If the monsoon fails the state in the first two weeks of July, the situation may be near drought," an official here said. Monsoon normally hits the state between June 12 and June 14. But this year, it was delayed by over a week. Soon after the rains began, they have been scanty. The state has received...

Punjab’s agricultural sector grew at 1.6 per cent during the 11th Plan against the national average of 3.41 per cent. The growth is tardy owing to near saturation in productivity. The rural debts in Punjab are estimated to be Rs 35,000 crore. The number of indebted rural households in Punjab is 66 per cent, third highest in the country after Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The Government of India’s debt...

-PTI Irked by misuse of subsidy, the Centre has directed state governments to take firm steps to curb illegal diversion of fertilisers like urea to non-farm sectors, especially in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Haryana. "Instances of illegal diversion of fertilisers to other industries has come to our notice. We have written to chief secretaries of the states for initiating action against persons involved in smuggling of fertilisers with the help of central/state enforcement...