-The Hindu Traders say that basmati prices were expected to remain low this year as there had been an oversupply of the commodity in the international markets. Farmers of the aromatic, long-grain basmati rice in the grain bowl States of Punjab and Haryana are heading for yet another period of distress as the premium variety is fetching a price that is even below that of regular paddy. Sitting visibly distressed with his trolley...

The low rate of inflation of 3.88 percent in Consumer Food Price Index during September, 2015 actually hides the high prices at which various pulses (dal) are available in kirana / retail shops across India. In terms of Consumer Price Index (combined), monthly rate of inflation in pulses and products during September 2015 (over September last year) stood at 29.76 percent as compared to the overall monthly retail inflation of...

-DNA Wondering about the plight of the rural population facing successive droughts which has to buy pulses, South Asia Network for Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) laments how no benefit of the price hike is reaching actual pulse farmers. While most link the current tur (pigeon pea) dal crisis with raging market prices, storage issues, hoarding and economics, a new study highlighting the making of the crisis - by South Asia Network...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The current spike in pulse prices could have been anticipated, but India's cereal-centric food security policies emphasize rice and wheat while dis-incentivizing the production of pulses despite clear trends that show a declining preference for cereals. Even though India's dependency on imported pulses grew as imports rose from 2.7 million tonnes in 2010-11 to over four million tonnes this year, minimum support price-driven procurement and the...

-The Hindu They are in favour of multilateral trading systems. India and Africa said on Friday that the two partners are aligned on the outstanding issues at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and are in favour of multilateral trading systems. “The WTO Ministerial scheduled for December in Nairobi will be held for the first time in Africa where we will be looking for outcomes that will be of interest to both India and...