-The Business Standard MSP hikes will stoke food inflation The government’s new kharif pricing policy, suggesting a steep 16 to 53 per cent increase in the minimum support pRices (MSPs) of various crops, is unlikely to fully satisfy farmers even as it will stoke food inflation and swell the food subsidy bill. Approval of the new pRices by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) came on the day that inflation numbers...

-AFP JOHANNESBURG: Foreign farms are spreading across Africa to grow food and biofuels for global markets, bringing much-needed investments but also new troubles for a continent struggling to feed itself.  China, Malaysia, Singapore and Bangladesh are just some of the countries spending billions of dollars in what critics have dubbed a new "scramble for Africa", a reference to Europe's 19th century colonisation drive.  But Africa holds an estimated 60 percent of the world's...

-The Shillong Times KLEW: A serious irregularity has been unearthed over the implementation of the mid-day meal scheme in the Unitarian Lower Primary School in Upper Klew village in Ri-Bhoi district. Students of the school are not getting their mid-day meal even though official records claim that mid-day meals are being provided to the students on a regular basis. The matter came to light after students of the school confirmed that they were...

-The Telegraph Costlier food items carried inflation up to 7.55 per cent in May, and the pRice situation could get aggravated further by the government’s decision to raise the minimum support pRice of paddy, oil seeds and pulses. However, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) deferred a decision to raise urea pRices because of opposition by some ministries. Inflation in May last year stood at 9.56 per cent. Overall food inflation rose to...

-The Economic Times The government has increased the minimum support pRice (MSP) for the kharif season in a range of 16% to 53% to motivate farmers and compensate for higher input costs but the higher purchase pRices could stoke food inflation further.  The Committee on Economic Affairs ( CCEA) on Thursday raised the MSP of paddy by Rs 170 per quintal and those of oilseeds like groundnut, sunflower seed and niger seed...