-The Telegraph The state food and civil supplies department has during an internal audit detected a Rs 35-crore “scam” involving advance paid to 17 companies by the West Bengal Essential Commodities Supply Corporation Limited. State food and civil supplies minister Jyotipriya Mullick today handed over the audit report for the 2004-05 accounts to chief minister Mamata Banerjee. “An internal audit carried out by the department has revealed that Rs 35.86 crore was paid...

Edible oil prices soared almost 10%-Rs 6 to 8 per kg-in the last one month, piling up pressure on the already vulnerable food inflation. Palm oil, which accounts for nearly half of India's refined oil consumption, went up Rs 10 per kg following a sharp rally in international markets. India imported about eight million tonne, or half of its domestic vegetable oil requirement, last year. A weakening rupee has been another...

The government has decided to throw its might behind private purchases of farm land overseas to ensure food security for India.  The agriculture ministry has sought views from other ministries on an institutional mechanism to extend sovereign support to India Inc's acquisition of farm land abroad that could include guaranteed buyback of harvest from the cultivation overseas.  Agriculture secretary PK Basu said that the proposal is in a nascent stage. "We had...

India’s decision-makers seem to find it difficult to see that there are children in the country. Being unable to see them, they are unable to perceive that they are hungry. In an age when we are able to use euphemisms like ‘under-nutrition’, this is perhaps not surprising. But it is disgraceful none the less.   This country has a large population of children. Fortyone per cent of its total numbers. The national...

-The Indian Express   Delhi residents are ahead of the others in terms of earning and spending, says a new government survey. At nearly Rs 1.16 lakh, the average annual per capita income of Delhiites is the highest in the country, and at Rs 33,732, the annual per capita expenditure too is the highest, as per the survey. “The monthly per capita expenditure of Delhiites signifies the prevalence of relatively better levels of living...