The West Bengal Government on Thursday announced subsidies on diesel for agricultural purposes and on power which will benefit consumers of up to 200 units of electricity monthly. 78 lakhs to benefit While the subsidy on diesel for the agricultural sector will be one rupee per litre, nearly 78 lakh consumers of power across the State will benefit from subsidies that will cost the State Government Rs. 120 crore annually. State Finance Minister...

The legacy of Industrial Agriculture With the world population passing the 6 billion mark last October, the debate over our ability to sustain a fast growing population is heating up. Biotechnology advocates in particular are becoming very vocal in their claim that there is no alternative to using genetically modified crops in agriculture if "we want to feed the world". Actually, that quote might be true. It depends what they mean...

After failing to come anywhere near the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-07) target of 4 per cent per annum rate of growth of agricultural output, the Planning Commission has projected a lower target growth rate of 3 to 3.5 per cent per annum for the 11th Plan period. While some may view this as a more modest target, others may consider it as still far too ambitious, given the track...

The NAC's recommendations on food security measures take heed of the fact that PDS reform is dependent on the availability of enough foodgrains. Three major elements of the United Progressive Alliance government's commitment to provide food security to the people are reforming the public distribution system (PDS), raising foodgrain productivity and production, and creating a decentralised, modern warehousing system. Ideally, the reforms in the PDS should have come first for the availability...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Saturday that the country needed to cut down on its dependence on debt to finance its developmental programmes and find ways to reduce the current level of subsidies. "The financing of the plan expenditure has depended far too much on debt. This must change," said Singh while addressing a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC), the country's top policy forum. To fund its...