The parliamentary panel on food and agriculture has recommended against sugar decontrol, claiming the move will go against the interest of farmers as well as consumers. The views of this panel, expressed in a report tabled in the Parliament yesterday, are not binding. “The committee is of the opinion that if the entire control on manufacturing and distribution of sugar is removed, the PDS scheme will be adversely affected, as sugar...

NEW DELHI: Food, PDS and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar made a big pitch to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Thursday on sugar sector decontrol. He placed a plan for the Centre to buy sugar at prevailing market price for the public distribution system (PDS) directly from the open market in the new sugar year starting October. If this goes through in the coming season, sectoral decontrol would be attained after 15 years of waiting for...

Food, PDS and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar made a big pitch to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Thursday on sugar sector decontrol. He placed a plan for the Centre to buy sugar at prevailing market price for the public distribution system (PDS) directly from the open market in the new sugar year starting October. If this goes through in the coming season, sectoral decontrol would be attained after...

The parliamentary panel on food and agriculture has recommended against sugar decontrol, claiming the move will go against the interest of farmers as well as consumers. The views of this panel, expressed in a report tabled in the Parliament yesterday, are not binding. “The committee is of the opinion that if the entire control on manufacturing and distribution of sugar is removed, the PDS scheme will be adversely affected, as sugar...

Sunday will mark the fifth anniversary of the landmark National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (later rechristened the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, or MGNREGA). At a time when the country is debating the contours of similar landmark legislation for food security (the National Food Security Act), it is time to evaluate the working of MGNREGA, initially implemented in 200 of the country’s poorest districts and expanded to all...