Huge stock being wasted in the absence of adequate storage PDS benefit should go entirely to BPL Computerisation will eliminate pilferage, corruption Expressing serious concern over reports that a huge stock of foodgrains is being wasted in the absence of adequate storage, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to consider releasing the grain to the deserving people rather than allowing it to rot. A Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma asked...

Hemant Gupta’s 30,000-tonne capacity godown for storing foodgrain is one of the largest in Ferozepur, Punjab. In 1978, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) hired it on a monthly rent of Rs75,000, or 50 paise per sq. ft—eventually raised to 80 paise per sq. ft. In 2004, Gupta says, FCI abruptly vacated his godown and stocked the grains in the open nearby. “See the rot within FCI,” says an exasperated Gupta. “They...

The recent spike in world food prices has further widened the gap between the developed and the developing economies. While, over 70 per cent of the world's population resides in poor countries, it has access to less than 40 per cent of the world's resources such as water, irrigated land, power, etc. This is a result of inconsistent economic progress (post-colonialisation birth pangs), rampant population growth and distractions such as...

A meticulously researched book by A. Vaidyanathan, Agricultural Growth in India: Role of Technology, Incentives and Institutions, is an illuminating scholarly work. Thinking about it one realizes the dismal and declining state of Indian agriculture and the poor governance at both Central and state government levels that has brought it to this sorry pass. A valuable compendium of data and analysis of Indian agriculture since Independence, it is a valuable...

Kaushik Basu, the current Chief Economic Adviser to the Ministry of Finance, had a 15-year-long stint as Professor of Economics at Cornell University. The Padma Bhushan awardee has been working closely with the Finance Ministry and the Prime Minister to chart the country’s future growth path. He spoke to MANAV CHOPRA about the need for better monitoring to ensure growth doesn’t happen at the expense of social justice. Excerpts: A common...