-MoneyControl.com India has suspended futures trading in seven commodities with immediate effect in its latest move to rein in soaring inflation. The Finance Ministry has suspended trading in futures contracts of some agricultural commodities for one year to reign in inflation. Trading in seven commodities - paddy (non-basmati), wheat, chana, mustard seeds and its derivatives, soya bean and its derivatives, crude palm oil and moong - has been suspended with immediate effect, according...

-The Telegraph The agrarian laws might have been repealed but are we any wiser about what it was that the farmers were so against, what reforms they could do with instead of the ones thrust upon them? Even in retreat over the farm laws, the Modi government adopted the same top-down approach it employed while bringing them in in May 2020. Pleasantly surPRIsed as they were by the PRIme Minister’s unexpected announcement,...

-National Herald Hindi films have rarely had songs on inflation. But of the few that have, the 1974 flick Roti, Kapda aur Makaan and the 2010 release Peepli Live stand out. Roti, Kapda aur Makaan had the superhit song …bhaaki kuch bachcha to mehangai maar gayi (…whatever was left, inflation took it away). The Peepli Live song went like this, …sakhi saiyan to khub hi kamaat hain, mehangayi daiyan khaaye jaat hai (O,...

-Livemint.com In November, the American consumer PRIce inflation (CPI) for urban consumers came in at 6.8%. The last time it was anywhere as high was nearly four decades back in June 1982, when it was 7.1%. It hadn’t even been a year since Mark David Chapman had killed John Lennon. Abba’s final performance and subsequent breakup, which went unannounced, was still a few months away. American and British pop and rock bands...

-Down to Earth The country’s organic / natural farming coverage remains poor despite abundant indegenous resources PRIme Minister Narendra Modi appealed to farmers December 16 to ensure that at least one village in every gram panchayat goes for natural farming methods. He highlighted the importance of ‘gaudhan’, or use of cow dung-urine formulations, with an aim of giving a fillip to natural farming. “The maximum benefit of natural farming will be for 80...