THE issue of foodgrain management policy has assumed renewed importance with several reports in the media of large-scale wastage and diversion from the public distribution system (PDS). In a cogently-argued paper recently, Prof Kaushik Basu, a well-known economist and the chief economic adviser in the ministry of finance, has argued for foodgrain to be released in lots of much smaller size into the market, than is presently done by the...

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the state and the central governments immediately provide succour to hapless farmers and artisans who faced the brunt of nature's fury in the last one year. The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister expressed serious displeasure over the relief announced by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and demanded higher compensation as the loss was enormous. Naidu, the Leader...

The state government on Thursday announced a package of input subsidy of Rs 6,000 per hectare, a compensation of Rs 5,000 for loss of livestock, discoloured yarn and damaged equipment of fishermen apart from rescheduling of all farm loans and interest waiver for farmers who suffered loss due to flooding in the past 15 months. Chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy in his reply to the debate on the farmers'...

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu today launched an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the state and the central governments immediately provide succour to hapless farmers and artisans who faced the brunt of nature's fury in the last one year. The former Andhra Pradesh chief minister expressed serious displeasure over the relief announced by Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and demanded higher compensation as the loss was enormous. Naidu, the Leader of the...

The government today said it has increased the minimum support price (MSP) for copra by Rs 75 per quintal for the 2011 season, a measure aimed at increasing coconut production in the country. The decision was taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on the recommendations of on recommendations Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP). While the MSP for fair average quality of milling copra has...