Sharp differences persist in the government over whether and how much of an impact the impending food law is likely to have on open market food prices. At a time when input costs for farmers have already gone up significantly and threaten volatility in food prices, the food ministry has dismissed apprehensions voiced by Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices ( CACP) chairman Ashok Gulati on the issue. Last week,...

It is time for the National Advisory Council (NAC) to introspect whether its pious thoughts on food security square up to an economic reality check. There are three likely scenarios: (1) universal coverage at 35 kg/per month per family; (2) universal coverage with 25 kg per family per month; and (3) partial coverage (say, to 11 crore families) with 35 kg per family per month. In each case, the implications...

While other Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Ministers are in the limelight for all the wrong reasons, Jayant Patil is trying to make a difference in Maharashtra. Divested of his finance portfolio which went to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, Mr. Patil, now Rural Development Minister, has embarked on an ambitious programme of tree plantation and rural sanitation, combined with planned development of villages for the first time. In a whirlwind tour...

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has been able to convey the impression that the agricultural sector was a key area of policy focus for his budget, but just about. He has chosen some good policies and programmes to boost agricultural development, but has done so in a half-hearted manner. Whether the agricultural sector actually benefits from his attention remains to be seen given that he has been niggardly in the...

For the first time since the launch of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the 2005-06 fiscal, the combined plan outlay for the Ministries of HRD and Health has surpassed that of the Department of Rural Development, which administers Doles like the NREGS, old age pension and rural housing grants to the poor. The UPA regime has for the first time cut outlay — by about 2 per cent...