To the price-hit common man, food inflation easing from nearly 20 per cent to a little above 16 per cent is a statistical mirage. And the president's call for a "second Green Revolution" will seem talk in the air. Politicians, nonetheless, are battling each other instead of high prices. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar has faced opposition snipers and the Congress's friendly fire. Tackling prices, he retorts, is the government's collective...

Hit by soaring food inflation, the government moved into urgent damage control mode on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepping into the frame and deciding to meet chief ministers to urge stronger anti-hoarding measures and improved lifting and distribution of Foodgrains. The Centre plans to quickly release 2-3 million tonnes of wheat and rice in the retail market, using its own agencies like NAFED and NCCF besides PDS outlets....

Government sat on grain stocks while food prices shot up   In july 2008, when inflation rose to a 10-year high of 11 per cent and industry was hit by a range of factors, including economic recession, the Union government responded immediately. There were day-on-day monetary interventions. Since July 2009, inflation, as calculated by the prices poor consumers pay for their daily needs, has hovered around 11 per cent, again a 10-year...

The 97th Indian Science Congress is in session at Thiruvananthapuram (January 3 to 7, 2010), the capital of the state of Kerala. For me, every session of the Congress is a new experience; an experience of learning and re-dedication to the cause propounded by the country’s first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It is a matter of pride for the scientific community in the country that it is the Prime...

Food prices have shot up by more than 20 per cent in the course of the past 12 months. A vast proportion of the nation is being battered by the price rise — the fixed income group, the working classes, landless peasantry and small farmers who have to buy at least a part of the grains they consume from the market. There is, however, no upheaval among the suffering people....