-Livemint.com As the base effect wears off in some categories and unseasonal rains affect winter sowing, the prognosis for food inflation doesn’t look good Food inflation, which inched up to 6.08% in November, is the main story in Monday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. Lentils were the main culprits for the rise. Inflation in pulses and pulses products rose to a high of 46.08% since the new series has been released. Inflation...

-The Telegraph Nearly 200 countries this evening reached a climate accord that some analysts have called a "turning point" in human history designed to drive the world towards 100 per cent clean energy. "It's a compromise... but it is a historic accord for the world," said Laurent Fabius, the president of the Paris conference of parties and the French foreign minister. "Our responsibility to history is immense." But others have warned that the...

-Economic and Political Weekly Why has pulse production stagnated despite measures to boost production being well known? This season, the prices of pulses (dals) have been on fire. According to the Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, the average retail price of red gram (tuar) doubled from around Rs 80 a kg in March 2015 to Rs 150–Rs 160 a kg in November 2015. What could...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Preparing to tide over another year of shortage in availability of pulses, particularly arhar dal that triggered a crisis, private importers have informed government of their intention to import nearly 5.5 million tonnes (MTs) of pulses next year in comparison to about 4.5 MTs in 2015. Government will also increase the import besides carrying out direct procurement from farmers to create a stock. Sources said private importers...

-The Tribune To ensure stable prices of pulses and attractive returns for producers, policies of domestic prices and tariffs should blend. Import duties must be calibrated with demand. As the Indian economy grows at a rate of 7 per cent plus, assuming low growth as an aberration, the food basket will diversify. Within grains, the movement will be to pulses as shown by the  expert group on pulse production. The yield and...