Increasing the prices at which people living above the poverty line are offered monthly foodgrains under the proposed Food Security Act could now offset the cost of increased food Subsidy for the poor. The Planning Commission is going to suggest that the government offer only 25 kgs of foodgrains to those living above the poverty line (APL) at the same price as it costs the government to buy up the...

The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on the Food Security Bill has decided to meet once again before releasing the much-awaited bill for public feedback. According to a highly placed official in the food ministry, the EGoM is yet to synchronise issues like the poverty estimate with the states, apart from taking a final call on the inclusion of the Above Poverty Line (APL) population in the proposed legislation. The meeting...

A good monsoon forecast strengthens prospects for India to cut sugar imports, free up grain exports and buy more gold as rains boost supplies in the world’s leading consumer of most farm commodities. Annual monsoon rains from June to September are key to firing up growth and farm output and limiting inflation in India, which ranks among the world’s top producers and consumers of sugar, wheat, rice and edible oils and...

After sitting on the proposal for four years, the Planning Commission has approved the union agriculture ministry’s modified national agricultural insurance scheme. More than half a dozen different models of farm insurance have been tried out since the early 1970s but without much success. None of these schemes has been economically viable. We now have one more experiment being launched. No more than a fraction of the country’s over 120...

Various estimates of the extra cost to the government for an improved food security Bill are doing the rounds, but many agree the Union government’s proposed food Subsidy bill would double. The proposed Bill offers 25 kg per family per month at Rs 3 a kg, to only families below the poverty line, or about 84 million households. Activists are insisting this be raised to 35 kg a family and to...