What’s Going Wrong?     * Market intelligence remains a weak link; farm policies rarely reflect correct scenario     * Extensive damage to crop in Maharashtra not factored in promoting onion, tomato exports     * Middlemen make capital while farmers realise 10-15% margin, not enough to recoup losses     * Government market intervention capacity limited to foodgrains and pulses **** India’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed when the government threw up its hands in despair in the...

As policymakers gear up for their biggest battle against inflation, worrying signs about India’s boom-boom growth story emerged. The first warning signal went up today with the government’s statistical office announcing that the index of industrial production (IIP) — the broadest measure of plant and factory performance —had grown by a piffling 2.7 per cent in November against a market consensus of 6.6 per cent. The index stood at 317.9 —its lowest...

Export of sugar, hike in Above Poverty Line price under Public Distribution System put on hold A meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday to discuss inflation and ways to tackle it, particularly the zooming prices of onion, vegetables, fruits, eggs and milk, remained “inconclusive,” official sources said. The Ministers concerned will meet Dr. Singh again in a day or two to come up with measures to tackle food...

The seven papers in The Lancet: India Series mentions Dr Binayak Sen; the journal’s January 8-14 issue carries an article by the paediatrician who has been sentenced to life on charges of sedition. The Lancet calls Sen a world renowned public health physician, rights activist and civil liberties expert who has worked tirelessly over the years to protect the human rights of vulnerable people, including health as a human right. The Lancet...

So why is the UPA hell-bent on killing its unique success story: the NREGA? Here's the inside narrative of the conspiracy. It took 47 days of a protest sit-in at Jaipur to make the state budge(1). It's notable that the objective of this protracted protest was not to coerce the Rajasthan government for an extra share of the state's resources, but to hold the government accountable to the Constitution and its...