With its granaries brimming over, the government faces a crippling dilemma: The tab for releasing foodgrain to make way for new arrivals adds up to Rs 20,000-25,000 crore, an unviable addition to the subsidy bill. The government's bind was succinctly outlined by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee when he told a meeting called by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday that vacating food silos will mean a hefty cost at a time...
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A standard & poor way of remote control-Sunanda Sen
Remote controls are identified as technical devices which are used for various purposes ranging from the launching of space-ships to the monitoring of toy cars. But of late, these devices are being used to direct policies for nation states which are formally sovereign. We speak here of the powerful lobby of international credit rating agencies like Standard and Poor's (S&P), which has just delivered its sermon that India is no longer...
More »A good monsoon is an occasion to invest in a major overhaul of farm policy
-The Economic Times India will have a normal monsoon this year, says the Met office. This is good news, even though the forecast does not rule out some slack during the second half of the season. What matters finally is the distribution of rainfall across space and time rather than the aggregate percentages. However, a good monsoon is only one side of the story to have a strong farm sector. Reforms are...
More »Pak potatoes rescue Indian consumers-Madhvi Sally
AHMEDABAD: With potato prices ruling at Rs 20 a kg in retail in the domestic market, traders from Jammu and Kashmir have started importing potato from the two Line of Control (LOC) trade posts of Srinagar and Poonch. With zero import duty on import at the LOC trade points, Pakistani potato is cheaper than the Indian variety by 20% to 40%. India's potato production is expected to be 33.5-34 million tonne...
More »South Asia to receive average monsoon this year
-Reuters India may have average rainfall in 2012 despite fears the El Nino weather pattern may emerge in the second half of the season South Asia is likely to receive average monsoon rains in 2012, a global forum relied on by governments for forecasting said, erasing the possibility of any drought in the region and India, which is a major consumer and producer of farm commodities. "The region is likely to receive average...
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