The country’s kharif foodgrain production is expected to decline to 98 million tonnes this year from 117.7 million tonnes produced in kharif 2008, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said here. “Decline in acreage and expected fall in yield will lead to a 16% drop in kharif foodgrain production. It is expected to fall to 98 million tonnes from 117.7 million tonnes produced in kharif 2008,” CMIE said. The kharif...

Four disturbing trends that need tackling are food adulteration, drug counterfeiting, environmental degradation and corruption The strong and sustained growth of the Indian economy over the last 17-18 years has delivered many very creditable outcomes for its people at large. While a lot more needs to be done on a sustained basis for many more decades if the growth has to be truly inclusive for all Indians, this should not...

Concerted efforts have been made to give a new lease of life to the Doha Round of WTO negotiations. The question before us is: what is the most relevant role which this revived round of trade talks can play? If we take an overview of the entire international trade scene and the changes that have taken place ever since the WTO was created (including the negotiations which preceded the WTO’s...

Several civil society organisations of Tamil Nadu are getting together to organise a Peoples’ Audit in the state to assess the need and efficacy of the proposed 139 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that are in various stages of approval. The audit will take place from October 24 to October 26 and members of the media are welcome to participate and witness the exercise in the presence of eminent economists, social...

The spectre of inflation has returned to haunt India. It is not even six months since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government returned to power but its inability to control food prices is arguably its single biggest failure till now. The inflation rate will eventually come down sometime in the (hopefully) not-too-distant future and the government will surely take credit for bringing prices down as and when that happens. But...