-The Economic Times   Farm sector has sought reforms in supply chain infrastructure, rationalisation of subsidies, decentralised handling of foodgrain, and higher resources to farm productivity and ensure food security.  Presenting its pre-budget wish list to the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, a delegation of farmers and sector experts said there was a need to boost investment in farm sector to tackle food inflation. Farm sector growth is likely to be 3-3.5% in 11th...

PROFESSOR Mohan Gopal, director of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies (RGICS), New Delhi, is a strong proponent of the government's Lokpal Bill. The RGICS provided key Inputs to the making of the government's Lokpal Bill and the Constitution Amendment Bill. Prof. Mohan Gopal, a scholar in constitutional law, headed the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, for five years and the National Law School, Bangalore. He was appointed by Parliament...

Agrarian distress and growing awareness among farmers, tired of poll-time rhetoric and freebies, may make it tougher for political parties to woo this large electorate with worn-out promises in the upcoming assembly polls.  Ahead of elections in five states, including in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous and politically-critical state, many farmers say they are ready to pay market rates for power and other Inputs provided there is reliable supply.  Swarn Singh,...

-The Business Standard Recent reports of the acquisition of a foreign rock phosphate mine by an Indian fertiliser manufacturer through a joint venture with a Japanese firm — in order to secure the raw material supply to its domestic phosphatic plant — should be viewed as part of a trend that needs to be sustained. India is critically dependent on fertiliser imports, since the availability of raw material for indigenous production...

The drama in the Rajya Sabha showed that the UPA government was not willing to go even by the will of Parliament. This gives rise to fundamental questions about the functioning of Indian democracy. The year 2011 will be remembered in India as the year of the campaign against corruption and for the Jan Lokpal Bill. The campaign began in January 2011 in the backdrop of the publicity that accompanied the...