-The Financial Express With a number of states commencing rollout of the National Food Security Act, 2013, only in the last couple of months, the government has decided to extend the rate at which highly subsidised grains are currently being supplied to states for distribution through the public distribution system (PDS) till end of the current fiscal. Sources told FE that the Centre would continue to provide subsidy so as to enable...
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From plate to plough: The arhar challenge - Ashok Gulati & Smriti Verma
-The Indian Express The incentive structure, currently skewed in favour of rice and wheat, needs to become crop-neutral High prices of pulses are upsetting the food budget of many poor families. Soaring retail prices of dals — urad at Rs. 170/kg, tur/arhar at Rs160/kg, gram/chickpea at Rs 127/kg, moong at Rs 111/kg and masoor at Rs 100/kg — have made dal a luxury for the dal-bhaat and dal-roti eating population. But not...
More »Reaping distress -Jayati Ghosh
-Frontline The inability to resolve pressing problems with respect to the production, distribution and availability of food is one of the important failures of the entire economic reform process. IN the fateful month of July 1991, when the devaluation of the Indian rupee presaged the introduction of a whole series of liberalising economic reforms, agriculture was very far from the minds of most policymakers and commentators. The immediate focus was on...
More »Nutrient prices: Non-starter of a cut -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Fertiliser makers rule out reduction in DAP rates, despite exhortations from Centre. Union Chemicals and fertilisers minister Ananth Kumar has stated that companies have “agreed” to slash maximum retail prices of non-urea fertilisers like DAP (di-ammonium phosphate) and MOP (muriate of potash) by Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000 per tonne, even as plantings for the ongoing kharif season have picked up on the back of a good monsoon. But it...
More »How to combat food price rise before its too late -Lekha Chakraborty and Pinaki Chakraborty
-The Financial Express Persistence of high food inflation can harden the monetary policy stance and make fiscal choices difficult Food inflation increased to 7.9% in May 2016 as against 4.23% in April. This sudden spurt in food inflation is attributed to vegetable prices, followed by pulses and sugar. Is this a short-term spike or will it be a persistent one? If it is going to be a persistent one with pass-through effects,...
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