The special meeting of Chief Ministers convened by the Centre indicates that food price inflation remains worrisome. But at the meet the problem was underplayed and little of substance emerged.  With food price inflation still running at close to 18 per cent, the UPA government at the Centre has been forced to recognise that it constitutes a problem that deserves as much or more attention than the objective of achieving...

Dr U Jaikumaran is breathless with excitement over the phone. “The next five days will be hectic and crucial in our war against hunger. We have to transplant rice on 300 acres in just five days.” Dr Jaikumaran, a professor at the Kerala Agriculture University (KAU), has been building a Food Security Army (FSA) – men and women in green uniforms organised into nine regiments and 24 battalions – who are...

Toxin-mixed fuel may deter adulterators but will pose danger to users After indirectly helping adulterators for seven long months to make money by diverting the kerosene meant for BPL families for mixing it with diesel, oil marketing companies (OMCs) are now thinking of introducing chemical markers which are hazardous for health and environment. The OMCs argued that during the technical evaluation of the markers, the hazardous chemicals would be removed....

Right time for policy reform The government is set to face disappointment on its expectation that the fertiliser subsidy will go down sharply this year due to a softening of international prices of fertilisers. It now appears almost certain that the total payable subsidy in 2009-10 may be around Rs 70,000 crore, against the budgetary provision of under Rs 50,000 crore. Since the government has made it clear that no additional...

While the government may have got reprieve with the fair and remunerative price, the mills are expected to move the courts On October 21, the Central government came out with an ordinance that it will henceforth announce a fair and remunerative price for sugarcane, instead of the statutory minimum price. Millions of farmers across the country grow sugarcane which they sell to sugar mills. To make sure that prices don’t tank...