It is the availability of adequate foodgrains to meet the mandatory requirements under the proposed National Food Security Bill that worries the government, not the enhanced subsidy such a move would entail. From what the government is planning it appears that the subsidies on petroleum products would go to meet the requirement of providing cheap foodgrains to the poor under the Public Distribution System (PDS) and to bring the Above...

The recent allegations made are uncalled for and can be seen as an attempt by bidders disqualified due to not fulfilling the tender requirements. Companies like Glodyne who have been crying foul did not even have an ISO certification to bid for the project and have failed miserably in states like Bihar to execute projects of nation building NREGA it took on. Other players included TCS and Aditya Birla Group...

The recent announcement of minimum support prices (MSP) for various Kharif crops has once again called into question certain aspects of the official policy towards agricultural pricing. True to pattern, it has come in late. The monsoon arrived at least a week before, and many farmers might have already chosen the crops to sow. The world over governments through their price support programmes, consisting of assured minimum prices and subsidies,...

While it may appear paradoxical that at a time when the government is fighting inflationary pressures, it has chosen to hike the minimum support price (MSP) for foodgrains, the reality is that prevailing market prices for almost all foodgrains, oilseeds and cereals are way above even these newly announced prices. Therefore, despite the substantial hike in MSP for kharif crops, especially for pulses, the impact on both market and farmers’...

THE government on Thursday raised the minimum support price of paddy by Rs 50 per quintal to Rs 1000 per quintal in what may push up its food subsidy bill, pegged at Rs 5 5,578.18 crore in the current fiscal. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also increased the minimum support price of pulses by up to Rs 700 to touch Rs 3,170 a...