-PTI/ The Hindu Punjab’s Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal said according to initial investigation by the agriculture department, it appears that a sum of ₹125-150 crore has been misused The Punjab government has said it has initiated a vigilance probe into a ₹150-crore scam in the distribution of crop residue management machines among farmers during the previous dispensation led by the Congress. State Agriculture Minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, in a statement on Wednesday,...

-Business Standard While the production of foodgrains and the financial position of the government are important points, electoral compulsion may become the deciding factor for the survival of this scheme A sharp drawdown in India’s wheat inventory exacerbated by a fear of a fall in rice production due to drought-like conditions in the main growing States has raised questions on the government’s ability to sustain the free foodgrains distribution scheme beyond its...

-The Telegraph Officials said the government is weighing up the option of some kind of restrictions on the shipments of rice New Delhi: After wheat, the Centre is mulling curbs on rice exports as the acreage under the crop this season has shrunk about 13 per cent over the previous year because of deficient rains in key rice-growing States — leading to a rise in the price of the foodgrain. Analysts said the...

-The Tribune Patients being provided medicines for one month only Chandigarh: Reeling under a shortage of medicines used in the treatment of patients infected with HIV, the Chandigarh Health Department is relying on other States to meet the demand. There are 231 HIV positive patients in the city, of whom six are pregnant women. The adult HIV prevalence in Chandigarh has decreased from 0.5% in 2003 to 0.25 % in 2006 and has...

Is India going to face inflation in cereal prices during the rest of the current financial year? Experts differ on this. An analysis by Nomura Global Economics and CEIC finds that a below normal monsoon does not always translate into high retail inflation in food. Similarly, an above normal southwest monsoon does not always bring down the rate of food inflation. However, some agricultural experts (please click here, here and...