-NDTV Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has earmarked Rs. 10,000 crore as incremental cost to implement the Food Security Bill, which he described as a promise of the UPA government. A centrepiece of the ruling government's campaign in 2009, the Bill was cleared last month by a parliamentary committee. The Bill says 75 per cent of the rural population and 50 per cent of the poor in urban India - about 800 million people...
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Economic Survey 2013: Indian agriculture largely a success story
-The Economic Times It is consoling that despite a deficit of 8% in south-west rainfall during 2012-13 compared to its long period average (LPA), agriculture's contribution to GDP growth is likely to be around 1.8%. It is also good news that the revised figure of agri-GDP for the 11th Plan as a whole is 3.6%, up from 3.3% estimated earlier. Gross capital formation in agriculture as a percentage of agri-GDP has almost...
More »Deciding who gets to eat -Brinda Karat
-The Hindu By allowing futures trade in food and diversion of farm land for commercial purposes, the UPA government is fuelling the price rise International agencies are warning of high food prices on a global scale in 2013 if urgent action is not taken. But our government shows little concern. The President’s address to Parliament had only a cursory mention of inflation. “Inflation is easing gradually, but is still a problem,” he...
More »Protein portents- Subir Gokarn
-The Business Standard Relative price changes across food items may impinge on long-term food security Rising food prices have been a significant driver of inflation in India over the past few years. In early 2008, there was a global surge in food prices, which certainly had an impact on the domestic situation. But, this subsided in a few months. Since then, the pressures seem to have been predominantly internal. If these trends...
More »Villagers in poor states use ration shops less, shows survey data-Surabhi
-The Indian Express Rural families in low income states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal depend far less on ration shops for wheat and rice than the national average. In Bihar, less than 12 per cent of the rural population uses ration shops to buy rice, and in West Bengal, less than 6 per cent of rice consumed by rural families is bought from these shops, data from five-yearly...
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