-The Economic Times Ashok Gulati, chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, warns that India will have a record food grain stock of 75 million tonnes by June when wheat procurement for the year would be over. A third of it would be stored in the open, and vulnerable to damage from rain, as covered storage capacity is only 50 million tonnes. If these stocks are not run down...

-The Hindustan Times The government on Monday admitted a mismatch between wheat procurement and storage and said efforts were on to ease pressure on go-downs by encouraging exports and providing foodgrain to MNREGA workers as part of wages. Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s brief statement on farmers’ light in the Lok Sabha during the zero hour came in response to vociferous protests by many political parties on the plight of farmers due...

-Reuters India may have average rainfall in 2012 despite fears the El Nino weather pattern may emerge in the second half of the season South Asia is likely to receive average monsoon rains in 2012, a global forum relied on by governments for forecasting said, erasing the possibility of any drought in the region and India, which is a major consumer and producer of farm commodities. "The region is likely to receive average...

Rural India has been denied access to globalisation, penalising farmers and farm labour. For the farmer, the government's policy is best described as Dhritarashtra's embrace. After the Mahabharata war was over, the old king met his nephews, the victorious Pandavas, and embraced them, one by one, in a gesture of forgiving and affection. When, Bhima's turn came, the loving embrace was so tight that it crushed a metal dummy of the second...

-The Business Standard   Too much grain, and no way to distribute it In about a month from now, the country’s ever-bulging foodgrain stockpile will bloat further to over 75 million tonnes, a record amount. This will be nearly two-and-a-half times the stipulated maximum food buffer. Worse, it will outstrip the available warehousing capacity (covered and open) of 63 million tonnes by a wide margin. Even today, a good part of the present...