-PTI Implementation of the National Food Security Bill will entail a subsidy of a whopping Rs 1.12 lakh crore, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister K V Thomas informed the Rajya Sabha today.  Food subsidy as per 1993-94 poverty line and 2000 population census is Rs 88,976 crore and as per the 2011 census it would be Rs 197,096 crore, he said during Question Hour.  Additional food subsidy burden for 2012-13 is estimated at...

Food subsidy allocation in the budget for 2012-13 is way short of what is required for the implementation of the proposed National Food Security Act, despite a categorical assurance by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that the government would “fully provide” food subsidy to administer UPA's flagship legislation. In fact, the regular food subsidy requirement has been cut. While declaring that the government proposed to phase out subsidies in fertilizer and petroleum...

-IANS Farmers of Assam, that recently boasted of having a record rice harvest, are losing interest in paddy cultivation, saying they were facing financial ruin in the absence a minimum support price and adequate procurement centres for their produce. Rice production is going down as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has not fixed the price to buy back the farmers’ produce, say farmers’ representatives. And there are only 20 FCI procurement...

-The Pioneer The mega exercise of wheat procurement from farmers on support price will get underway from March 15 in Madhya Pradesh. Till May 20, about 65 lakh metric tonne of wheat will be purchased from farmers in 67 days at the rate of about one lakh metric tonne per day. Under the scheme, e-procurement system has been adopted for the first time in the State in order to prevent any irregularity...

-PTI Amid reports that potato and onion farmers were dumping their produce due to fall in prices, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today assured Parliament that a scheme is in place to share the loss incurred by the growers.  The Agriculture Ministry implements a Market Intervention Scheme (MIS), after it receives proposals from state government on the need for procurement of agricultural and horticultural crops, Pawar said in a reply to a query...