-The Hindu Business Line     Questions efficiency of country's food subsidy programmes  Targeting India's Food Security Programme, the US has questioned its efficiency and has said that the country should spell out measures to increase the programme's effectiveness. It has also demanded that India submit all relevant statistics and documents on the programme to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in order to gain immunity against penalties in case subsidies breach specified limits. "The matter will...

-The Financial Express The Indian success story increasingly looks like a tale of naivety and optimistic complacency. The Indian success story increasingly looks like a tale of naivety and optimistic complacency, with the fantasy of ‘India Shining' obfuscating the reality of widespread deprivation. Despite rapid economic growth during the past decade, millions continue to live in poverty and hunger. The Indian government aims to address abject hunger and malnutrition with the National Food...

-Press Information Bureau (Ministry of Agriculture) The two-day National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign has come out with detailed strategy for maximising crop production during the coming kharif season. The focus will be on ensuring timely availability of fertilizers and quality seed and also sufficient credit to farmers. Based on inputs from States and the Fertilizer Ministry, it is established that sufficient quantities of fertilizers and seeds are available in...

-The Hindu There are obviously several dimensions to India's recent agricultural performance which Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in his budget speech termed as "stellar". A week before the budget, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had announced that foodgrain production is on course to touch a new record of 263 million tonnes, up from 255.36 million tonnes last year. The good performance is seen with regard to other crops too. Estimates of...

-The Hindu Business Line One sector in which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) can claim some success during its 10 years in power is agriculture. Between 2003-04 and 2013-14, India's foodgrain output rose from 213.19 million tonnes (mt) to 263.20 mt. Production of pulses and oilseeds has also gone up from under 15 and 25 mt to nearly 20 and 33 mt respectively, after registering near stagnation in the previous decade....