Blame stubborn procurement policy as the root of all evil. With the government sitting on heaps of foodgrain and with an acute shortage of quality storage facilities, analysts, some within the government, suggest exporting foodgrain and reviewing procurement policy. The suggestion is gaining ground among advisors and experts, given the current global situation, where wheat prices are on the rise on fears of subdued production in drought-hit countries like Russia, Uzbekistan and...

A decision on South Korean steel major Posco’s project in Orissa is likely to be taken soon after the environment ministry appointed committee submits its report on October 11. Work on Posco’s Rs 54,0000-crore project in Jagatsinghpur was suspended following a stop-work order by the environment ministry in August. "The panel has almost finalised its report and will submit it to the ministry on October 11. It will be then discussed by...

A committee set up by the government has suggested freeing the prices of urea and inclusion of the fertiliser in the new nutrient-based subsidy scheme to discourage its excessive use, stem soil degradation and reduce government subsidy. The panel, led by former agriculture secretary T Nanda Kumar, also recommended a “comparatively higher level” of subsidy for critical nutrients like sulphur, zinc and boron to make them affordable to farmers.   The nutrient-based subsidy...

Trade unions and labour rights activists blame the high suicide rate in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, on the practices of the garment industry. TIRUPUR has carved out a niche for itself in the world of garments. Its phenomenal growth in the highly competitive global scenario, particularly in the past two decades, has been made possible by the entrepreneurial spirit of its manufacturers and exporters and the sweat and labour of thousands of...

VISHAL, the son of a farm labourer in the west Indian state of Maharashtra, is almost four. He should weigh around 16kg (35lb). But scooping him up from the floor costs his nursery teacher, a frail woman in a faded sari, little effort. She slips Vishal’s scrawny legs through two holes cut in the corners of a cloth sack, which she hooks to a weighing scale. The needle stops at...