UPA-II's plans to replace the existing fertiliser subsidy regime with direct cash transfers to farmers will be delayed as the fertiliser ministry is likely to scrap an intermediate phase where the subsidy was to be rerouted from companies to retailers this summer. This puts paid to the fertilizer industry's expectation that very soon it would be out of the subsidy mechanism which locks up precious working capital. "We are rethinking the original...
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Fertiliser Ministry moots 10% hike in urea prices-Rituraj Tiwari
The fertiliser ministry is mooting a proposal to raise urea prices by 10%. With this proposed revision, which will have to be endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, urea prices will go up from Rs 5,310 per tonne to Rs 5,841 per tonne. This will help the government to reduce its annual subsidy burden by around Rs 2,000 crore. At present , the annual urea subsidy bill is in...
More »Come June, bountiful Rabi harvest poses problem of plenty by Rajeev Deshpande & Surojit Gupta
A problem of plenty is looming as by June 1, an estimated 12 million tonnes of foodgrain will have to be stored in the open in "kutcha plinths" with a bountiful Rabi harvest and procurement of 65 million tonnes of grain boosting food stocks to record levels. With states like Madhya Pradesh - apart from the wheat baskets of Punjab and Haryana - delivering bonus yields, food stocks are expected to...
More »Pranab vetoes extra food subsidy to states-Ravish Tiwari
In the first example of his intention to take “difficult decisions” to contain the ballooning subsidy burden to control the fiscal deficit, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday denied permission to food minister KV Thomas for about 26.5 million tonnes of additional food grain allocation to states at subsidised rates over the normal allocation that would have cost the exchequer Rs 32,794 crore of food subsidy. “It will have to be...
More »‘Food Security Bill should have universal appeal'
-PTI Eminent economist Madhura Swaminathan on Tuesday said the UPA government's flagship Food Security Bill should have a universal appeal as any targeted selection would lead to complications in picking the beneficiaries in a big country like India. The Indian Statistical Institute Professor, whose research falls in the area of food security, agriculture and rural development, said: “the draft Bill, as envisaged currently, will exclude a huge segment of the population.” “Experience shows...
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