Cash transfer as substitute for state service provision is a dangerous recipe for callously anti-poor and corrupt governance. THE staggering number of recent articles, papers and books on the virtues of giving cash in place of public services to the poor has created an impression that a sort of epidemic has broken out. Economists, policymakers, bureaucrats and newspaper commentators are all infected by it and are in turn infecting others. The central...

The world population is estimated to reach nine billion by 2050. The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that global food production needs to increase 70 per cent by 2050 compared to average 2005-07 levels to feed the rising global population. Clearly, a large part of the consumption will happen in India and China; which would require an additional 1.6 billion hectares of land to be brought into cultivation compared to...

High food prices prevented more than 19 million people in the Asia-Pacific region from lifting themselves out of poverty last year, the United Nations said in a new study released today, warning that soaring food and fuel inflation will keep large sections of the region’s population below the poverty threshold. The assessment by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) says that rising food prices can...

With wheat production expected to touch a new high during the ongoing Rabi season, a demand for its export has gained ground in UP. The export, is seen as the only way to help ease the problem of plenty and also to ensure remunerative prices to farmers. Incidentally, India's overall wheat production is also estimated to go up substantially. This comes at a time, when there is a global slump with...

Cotton production is expected to be 6.8 million tonnes (40 million bales of 170 kg each) in 2011-12 as soaring prices could spur the farmers to boost planting, according to a report. Cotton production stood at 33.9 million bales in 2010-11 crop year (July-June), as per the government's second advance estimate released in February. "The market expects the cotton output to reach a new high of 6.8 million tonnes (4 crore bales)...