-PTI Charging the government with showing apathy towards the grievances of farmers, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Saturday insisted that the proposed Food Security Bill should be formulated after discussing the issues with those involved in the agriculture sector. “Government wants to bring a Bill which aims to provide food security to the people. Then a person who does not get food can go to court. Such a...

-The Hindustan Times The government on Monday admitted a mismatch between wheat procurement and storage and said efforts were on to ease pressure on go-downs by encouraging exports and providing foodgrain to MNREGA workers as part of wages. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s brief statement on farmers’ light in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour came in response to vociferous protests by many political parties on the plight of farmers due...

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...

-The Hindu The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food will meet soon following a letter by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on curbs over milk, cotton and sugar exports. The EgoM is headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Mr. Pawar shot off the letter to the Prime Minister after the EGoM disallowed export of cotton beyond 13 million bales for the current marketing year the...

-The Business Standard   Too much grain, and no way to distribute it In about a month from now, the country’s ever-bulging foodgrain stockpile will bloat further to over 75 million tonnes, a record amount. This will be nearly two-and-a-half times the stipulated maximum food buffer. Worse, it will outstrip the available warehousing capacity (covered and open) of 63 million tonnes by a wide margin. Even today, a good part of the present...