-The Times of India The bad news is hidden inside the good news. Seemingly comforting headlines tell us that inflation has hit a three-year low, with wholesale price increases slowing down to 7.2% in December. But the common man will take a hit with prices of food products shooting up by 11.2% - the highest increase in almost two years. Unlike in previous years, when increasing food prices were attributed to...

-The Business Standard Govt's unbalanced food policy has disastrous results Consider the following discrepancies in the farm sector. The country is now the world’s largest exporter of rice, a crop grown with huge quantities of scarce water and heavily subsidised fertilisers. At the same time, it is the leading importer of pulses, which require very little water to grow and fortify the land with nitrogen to reduce the fertiliser need even...

-The Hindu Adding fuel to fire, people haven’t received subsidy Kotkasim (Rajasthan): Mahipal Singh Yadav (31) is a contractual junior manager at the Kotkasim Gram Sewa Sahakari Samiti. Joining the cooperative, he had hoped, would be like any other job. However, since the direct cash transfer of kerosene subsidies scheme was piloted here, Mr. Yadav has found himself at the receiving end of people’s anger. The KGSSS operates five fair price shops (FPS) in...

-Tehelka While Delhi government says it will eliminate leakages in the supply chain of food distribution, activists say it will take away the rights of the poor who require food entitlements rather than cash When Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit fumbled a bit in front of 5,000 people while delivering her speech at the launch of Annshree Yojna, the audience let out a collective gasp and began murmuring loudly. Dikshit had...

-The Economic Times Cash transfers will become a reality soon, and one area that the government is going to align with this mechanism is the Public Distribution System (PDS). While, prima facie, it appears to be a good idea, given that it removes quite a bit of inefficiency in the present system, there are certain issues that have to be addressed before we go in for the same as they could become...