-The Economic Times If I say today that I am ready to supply onions, in an improvised form, at Rs 20/kg home delivered, and round the year, people may think either I have gone crazy or I am dipping into the general exchequer to pull off a massive subsidy scheme for onions. Wrong. I will make a cool profit of 15 to 20% in this deal, do a great service to...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Even as the Centre on Wednesday stepped in to import onion from China and Pakistan in a bid to cool down prices of the staple, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar warned that the crisis may continue for another two to three weeks. "Next two to three weeks will be tough. Ultimately, we have to find a solution. We have to import as early as possible," Pawar...

-Live Mint The right to food campaigner talks about the importance of the Bill in an interview The National Food Security Bill (NFSB) is just a signature away from becoming law after being passed by the Rajya Sabha on Monday. It was passed by the Lok Sabha on 26 August and needs the President's signature to be enacted. Critics have dismissed the proposed legislation as a drain on India's resources. Dipa Sinha,...

-The Economic Times It is scandalous that inflation in cereals remains above 17 per cent even as food grain stocks with the Centre are close to 80 million tonnes. The Committee on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) paper estimates that the buffer stocking requirement would go up, thanks to the Food Security law, but not higher than 41.5 million as of July 1. The rest is excess. The government must sell off...

-The Telegraph Mumbai: The immediate fiscal impact of the food security programme is going to be manageable. Since implementation of the scheme across India will take time, the cost burden for the programme in fiscal year 2013-14, in addition to the budgeted food subsidy of Rs 90,000 crore, has been estimated by Edelweiss Research at Rs 10,000 crore. This is roughly 0.1 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP). But once the...