-Reuters NEW DELHI: With grain silos spilling over, exports on the rise and an avowed market champion for prime minister, India's threat to trash a global trade deal in the name of food security appears puzzling. But government officials say Prime Minister Narendra Modi is prepared to brazen out global outrage to seize a historic chance to build a rural power base with his defence of farm subsidies and to banish memories...

-The Tribune The UPA's flagship programme MGNREGS changed the employment scene for the rural poor. While 100-day job guarantee was a novel step, loopholes and poor implementation rendered it a liability. The Modi govt hopes to gradually reinvent the scheme, if not entirely scrap it. Midway through the Congress-led UPA's second tenure - believed to be largely the courtesy of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) -...

-The Hans India * Telengana govt stops food grain supply to white card holders without Aadhaar * Civil supplies dept says it is an attempt to weed out bogus ration cards * There are more ration cards than the number of households * State will save Rs 500 cr if bogus cards are weeded out Hyderabad: The Telangana government has stopped the supply of food grains to white card holders who...

-The Hindu The total number of ration cards is more than the number of households in Telangana Telengana: It's indeed ironical that the total number of ration cards is more than the number of households in Telangana! With the government repeatedly making it clear that bogus ration cards would be weeded out, officials in districts have begun the exercise. Here is a status report on one of the most difficult tasks undertaken...

-PTI New Delhi: Rising prices of rice in the open market prompted households to reduce consumption and rely on Ration shops to buy it at controlled rate, shows a government survey. According to the NSSO survey, Indian families consumed less rice in 2011-12 but their purchases of the commodity under Public Distribution System (PDS) doubled in villages and rose by 66 percent in cities. The monthly per capita rice consumption in villages was...