-Economic and Political Weekly     In exploring the link between food price inflation and rising rural real wages, this paper examines the dynamic relations between rural wages in different sectors and the relationship these wages share with increasing food prices. It looks into the possibility of a Lewsian transformation causing an increase in real rural wages, but the result of the analysis suggests that the rise in wages is because of an...

-The Hindu     Filmmakers Kavita Bahl and Nandan Saxena on their award-winning documentary "Candles in the Wind" which chronicles the struggles of the widows of the Green Revolution in Punjab As calls for a ‘second green revolution' begin to be heard, it is important to examine the legacy of the first. In Punjab, the laboratory of the revolution, the experiment seems to have gone wrong - water tables have declined, agriculture has become...

-The Business Standard   Food Corporation to restrict procurement of foodgrain from states announcing additional sops In a crackdown on the practice of states announcing bonuses on the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat and rice, the Centre has said Food Corporation of India (FCI) will restrict procurement of foodgrain from such states. This will be effective from the coming rice procurement (October 2014-September 2015) and wheat procurement (April 2015-March 2016) seasons. If states...

-PTI   Paddy MSP of Grade 'A' variety has been raised by Rs 55 to Rs 1,400 a quintal The government today announced Rs 50 per quintal increase in the minimum support price of paddy to Rs 1,360 to encourage farmers to cultivate rice, but said that the decision will not have an impact on inflation. Minimum support price (MSP) of pulses has been raised by up to Rs 100 per quintal. The Cabinet Committee...

-The Business Standard   The government needs counter cyclical policies to tackle vegflation, which has become a recurrent problem Somebody help. Narendra Modi and Arun Jaitley are held hostage, not by jihadists, recalcitrant opposition, international capital or the ever-erratic monsoon, but by faceless, nameless manipulators of Nasik, Navi Mumbai and Azadpur markets. The "raw" terror they have let loose resounds in the corridors of government as well as media power. Cutting to the chase,...