“To ensure greater cost efficiency, better delivery” Seeking to address the issue of subsidies not reaching the targeted groups, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday proposed to provide a direct cash subsidy on fuel and fertilizers to the poor from March, 2012. “To ensure greater cost efficiency and better delivery of kerosene and fertilizers, the government will move toward direct transfer of cash subsidy for people below poverty line (BPL) in a...

Several agri-experts, including noted scientist M S Swaminathan, today said the Budget 2011-12 did not address several Important issues facing agriculture, although they welcomed some proposals as being pro-farm. Swaminathan, known as the father of the Green Revolution in India, said the Budget had several good proposals but it did not have a strategy to keep farmers on farm and attract youth in the agriculture sector. "It is unfortunate that in a...

The Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council (NAC) has managed to have its way on key demands on the food security bill. Bolstered by the Congress president’s “resolve”, the panel will go ahead and draft its own version of the bill and hope that Sonia’s veto will persuade the Centre to discard its stated objections and adopt the NAC’s draft as law. “Yeh tho hona hi hai,” Sonia reportedly said. A panel member...

Is the chemical fertilizer-based food production system sustainable? As a result, what happens to the soil and the larger issue of food security? After a raging debate, the government finally decided to hike the chemical fertilizer subsidy, to catch up with spiralling fertilizer prices in the global market. Also, there is talk about bringing urea under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) system and decontrolling its prices. Obviously, the fertilizer industry...

The Plastic Waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011 notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, should be viewed by State governments and municipal authorities as a good blueprint for a much-needed civic clean-up. The Central Pollution Control Board estimates the consumption of plastic products in India to be of the order of eight million tonnes a year. This ranges from shopping bags to household and industrial material. The volume...