-The Hindu CPI for agricultural and rural workers increased by 10 points each last month Rising food prices spurred an increase by 10 points each in the all-India Consumer Price Index (CPI) for agricultural and rural labourers, respectively, last month, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said in a release on Saturday. An increase in the prices of rice, wheat-atta, jowar, bajra, ragi, vegetables and fruits contributed the bulk of the spike in...
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Wheat output to fall 3% from last year, says Centre
-Scroll.in Heatwaves across many wheat-producing states have resulted in a dip in the production of the staple grain this year. India’s wheat production is likely to fall 3% to 106.41 million tonnes this year from last year’s output of 109.59 million tonnes, the Hindustan Times reported on Friday, citing the Union agriculture ministry’s third advance estimates of output of food grains. Severe heatwaves across many wheat-producing states have resulted in a dip in...
More »Lessons from Rs 2 – Rs 100 Tomato pendulum
-The New Indian Express The steep fluctuation of prices in a crop whose consumption and cultivation cycles are well documented speaks volumes about the patchy intervention measures taken over the years. The retail price of tomato has hit a high of Rs 100 per kg in Tamil Nadu just a couple of months after prices dropped to as low as Rs 2 per kg. There were reports from across the state about...
More »The poor are bearing the brunt of inflation -Krishna Raj
-The Tribune The prices of essential food items have increased by 50% in seven years, whereas the real wage rate has risen by 22%. These figures show that inflation has outsmarted the real income of the poor, making their lives miserable as the food basket constitutes a substantial proportion of the total expenditure on the poor. The net effect is that the poor earn less and take loans to maintain the...
More »India’s wheat ban defies economic logic
-Livemint.com The political economy favours the government taking tough measures to protect the consumers — more numerous and more vocal than producers — even if these measures go against the grain of economic sense. India’s decision to restrict wheat export is disappointing but not a big surprise. Banning exports has been the government’s standard response to any shortage of agricultural commodities, denying farmers the benefit of global prices when these are high....
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