Massive grain procurement to meet the requirements under the proposed national food security law could drive out the private sector and have larger implications on the state of the domestic procurement market, a study on food and nutritional security has warned. Apart from impacting exports and cereal price in the open market, rising public procurement will only make it costly to buy, store, transport and distribute grain, the study said, adding...

The Supreme Court today pulled up a lower court judge for interfering with an order it had passed and warned of weeding out corrupt judges in a sweeping lash that didn’t spare even lawyers. The court said a section of the subordinate judiciary was passing orders on “extraneous” grounds and should be thrown out for bringing a bad name to the whole institution. The withering rap comes at a time allegations of...

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has stepped in to stop the rotting of grain. Just hours after CNN-IBN reported a record harvest of grain rotting because of lack of storage facilities Reddy has appointed a team of 10 IAS officers to supervise paddy procurement and has issued instructions to minimise wastage by ensuring a supply of gunny bags to warehouses. He has also reportedly asked officials to look into...

Gethi is such an inedible beetroot for most of us that it must be boiled overnight and dried thrice before the bitterness can be cut. Even after that, the faces of children pucker as soon as they put it in the mouth. A gethi looks like a misshapen potato with dark brown hairy strands that must be plucked clean. The Pahariyas of Borogora village in the lap of the Bagmundi jungles...

A Supreme Court-appointed committee finds large-scale illegal mining in Karnataka with the connivance of officials. THE issue of illegal mining in Karnataka and the large-scale corruption in political and public life resulting from it refuses to stay away from the headlines. The sordid tale of mining-linked corruption (Cover Story; Frontline, July 16, 2010) has had a few recurring characters – a beleaguered but defiant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister B.S....