-Livemint.com Trade moving outside regulated markets could lead to speculation and volatile prices, warn experts NEW DELHI: After the Centre enacted a new set of laws freeing internal trade in farm produce, crop arrivals in regulated wholesale markets have witnessed a sharp decline. However, off-market transactions between farmers and traders which are going unrecorded could be fueling food inflation as traders engage in speculation and hoarding, experts said. An analysis of numbers from...

-Livemint.com * As consumers bear the brunt of high food costs, growers see no benefit. How long will this strange dynamic last? * Many lower income consumers are also not enrolled under the federal food security scheme. An estimate suggests that over 100 million eligible Indians are excluded Ramesh Pangal calls it a season of miseries: Farmers running around with vegetables to find a buyer; leaving tomatoes to rot in the field; dumping...

-The Tribune Subsidy given even when sugar rates soared after fall in 2015 Chandigarh: The Punjab Government today decided to recover Rs 223.75 crore from seven private sugar mills, most of them owned by politicians. This recovery is to be made as land revenue arrears for the largesse extended to them by the previous SAD-BJP government. A subsidy of Rs 50 per quintal on the State Advised Price (SAP) of Rs 280-Rs 295...

-Down to Earth Instead of putting Punjab farmers at the mercy of big corporates and private players, there is a need to strengthen existing infrastructure The Union government announced three agriculture-related ordinances as part of its novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) relief package — permitting agricultural trade outside the boundaries of market committees, easing regulation and control under the Essential Commodities Act and facilitating contract farming. Out of these, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and...

-Livemint.com * Rural spending is the only ray of hope for a ravaged economy. But will consumers rise to the occasion? * The income loss due to 30 million migrant workers returning home is a significant hit to household finances. Moreover, covid-19 has deeply affected an already bruised consumer psyche The locked rooms lining the courtyard of Dilip Patidar’s sprawling ancestral home once smelled like a spice box. That was some years ago...