Discussions with Plan panel, finmin and NAC almost over, draft law to be finalized at the next eGoM meeting The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is expected to introduce the National Food Security Bill, a proposal that aims to provide subsidized foodgrain to the poor, in the monsoon session of Parliament even as the procurement of rice and wheat touches a record high. The ruling Congress party had pledged in its...

Indian farmers have much to celebrate this year with a bumper wheat harvest. As predicted by the ministry of agriculture, wheat farmers have begun to harvest what is shaping up to be a record crop, projected at 84.27 million tonnes. We are growing more wheat than ever before. The earlier record of 80.8 million tonnes of wheat production was achieved in 2009-10. Estimates show that foodgrain production including wheat, rice, pulses...

India's wonder plants with medicinal properties will now come with a special "good quality tag" with the government putting in place a voluntary certification scheme for medicinal plant produce based on good agricultural practices and good field collection practices. This, the government said, will enhance confidence in the quality of India's medicinal plant produce and make available good quality raw material to the ayurvedic and herbal drugs industry. Under the scheme, launched...

Yes, food prices are rising but more competition is not the answer — it's time to stop over-consumption. Slowly, surely, a new mixture of consensus and fault lines is emerging about world food. On the one hand, there is agreement we are entering a new era in which basic agricultural commodity prices are rising after decades of falling. This will hit the poorest hardest, as an Oxfam report this week on...

-The Economic Times   With the land acquisition work for Posco project near Paradip picking up gradually, Orissa government had decided to renew the lapsed MoU with the South Korean steel major before June, official sources today said. The state government would renew MoU with Posco before end of June, Orissa Steel and Mines minister Raghunath Mohanty. "We have decided to hold a meeting soon to take final decision on the...