The countrywide share of corporate retail in food distribution tripled in the past four years when retail food prices showed the greatest increase. THE dramatic increase in food inflation over the past two years has been associated with several surprises. One major surprise has been how the top economic policymakers in the country have responded to it. The initial response was one of apparent disbelief, followed very quickly by the...

Even though the Central Government agreed to link the wages paid under MG-NREGA to the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPIAL), it shied away from paying statutory minimum wages in various states of India. Their logic for this: Lack of clarity on who will bear the extra financial burden—the Centre or the states? A letter from the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to UPA and NAC Chairperson Sonia Gandhi dated 31...

Some members of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council are in favour of a “compromise” on the food security bill after a committee appointed by the Prime Minister turned down their key recommendations yesterday. These members, speaking off the record, said they wanted to take the process forward and bring the bill in Parliament. However, this would be subject to the view that Sonia takes on the C. Rangarajan report. The bill,...

Information Commissioners across the country have caused a loss of Rs 86 crore during 2009-10 by not imposing penalties in cases where they ought to have done so as per provisions of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, according to a study by Public Cause Research Foundation. The total expenditure on information commissions in the country (barring Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh) was just Rs 45.4 crore. This is significantly...

Even five years after the enactment of the pioneering Right to Information Act (RTI), penalties for delays in providing what has been sought under the law are imposed in less than 4% of the cases, an independent audit shows. The Act, which empowers citizens to demand information from the government, provides for the imposition of penalties by the Central or State Information Commission in case of delays without reasonable cause. The landmark...