The Prime Minister’s Office has given direct orders to top officials of Sharad Pawar’s department to get cracking after the food minister said it would take “two to three weeks” for onion prices to stabilise. Sources said an annoyed Manmohan Singh has conveyed to Pawar that the time frame set by the minister is too long, especially since prices have skyrocketed within a week. Expressing deep concern over the “extraordinary price rise...

The Centre today sought to justify the export ban on onion by saying that the wholesale price of onion in Nashik, the country’s largest wholesale hub for the bulb crop, had declined by 33 per cent to Rs 2,500 per 100kg or Rs 25 a kg. The impact will not be felt immediately on kitchen budgets as it will take some time – “two to three weeks”, according to Sharad Pawar...

Retail prices of onions continued to remain high on Tuesday even as a ban on exports led to a 30% fall in wholesale rates. The government, however, cautioned that retail prices would fall from current exorbitant levels (of Rs 75-80 per kg) only after three weeks. But prices are expected to return to the last month's reasonable levels (Rs 20-25 per kg) across the country only in March, when the...

In a major catch, District Supply officials and Food Cell police unearthed paddy and rice allegedly stashed in as many as 1,700 gunny bags in a godown of a private rice mill in Keerathurai Mahalipatti here on Sunday. Two workers of the rice mill were detained and a goods vehicle was impounded, officials said. Following complaints from consumers that some ration shops claimed shortage of Re.1-rice, Collector C. Kamaraj formed a special...

The Congress has proposed the introduction of an RTI-like legislation exclusively for “corporate corridors”, floating what looks like a nascent idea at a time some industrialists have criticised the government after the leak of the Niira Radia tapes. The suggestion was made in the latest issue of the Congress mouthpiece Sandesh and released today at the plenary where Sonia made an anti-corruption drive the cornerstone of her speech. “The Right to Information...