-The Business Standard Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on the launch of the second phase of the Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana, ahead of the Centre's proposed food security legislation. Edited excerpts of an interview with Sanjay Jog: * What are the key features of the second phase of the Mukhya Mantri Annapurna Yojana (MAY), launched from this month? This will benefit 35 million people, including 5.5 mn below the poverty line...

-The Times of India So much has already been written on the food security Bill that there would seem to be no justification for another column on it. Yet, a recent look at some consumption data has convinced me otherwise. How the food security Bill impacts people's lives ultimately depends on the effect it will have on the consumption basket of the beneficiaries. If you believe in serious analysis over flag waving,...

-The Economic Times The huge delay in bringing the Food Security Bill to Parliament and the massive opposition to it have seen most states going ahead with key provisions of the proposed Bill, Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen tells ET. Sen has doubts whether the bill would be passed in the Monsoon Session of Parliament. Edited excerpts: * Do you think Food Security Bill would be passed in the Monsoon Session? I am not...

-The Business Standard How to fix the agricultural pricing mess The government's move to get the mandate of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) reviewed afresh by an expert panel needs to be viewed in a broader perspective - one that weighs political populism against economic logic. It has been argued that minimum support prices (MSPs) have been raised often - and supposedly partly for political reasons - during the...

-Firstpost.com On 7 May, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India presented to Parliament a Performance Audit of Storage Management and Movement of Foodgrains in Food Corporation of India. This report has gone largely unreported in the media, given that it does not contain any big number running into lakhs of crores like previous reports of the CAG did. But it clearly explains why the government of India is in no...