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...
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'Most RTI queries are about illegal buildings'
Information on illegal structures in their neighbourhood topped the list of queries asked by citizens, an analysis of RTI queries at an awareness camp showed. Citizens expressed concern at the three-day RTI camp organized by Mahiti Adhikar Manch and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) at Parel that concluded on Friday. "A majority of the 175 participants said that they wanted to file RTI queries related to unauthorized changes made in...
More »If villagers won't go to town, town will come to villagers by Aman Sethi
Chhattisgarh tribals punished for exercising rights under Panchayat (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act It was unconstitutional, violation of PESA, says petition It was pushed by local administration, politicians to set up thermal power plant One morning in March 2010, residents of Premnagar awoke to discover they were villagers no more. An administrative notification had dissolved Premnagar's village council or gram panchayat and replaced it with a city council or nagar panchayat. Unbeknownst to...
More »Peeling The Policy Cipher by Lola Nayar
What’s Going Wrong? * Market intelligence remains a weak link; farm policies rarely reflect correct scenario * Extensive damage to crop in Maharashtra not factored in promoting onion, tomato exports * Middlemen make capital while farmers realise 10-15% margin, not enough to recoup losses * Government market intervention capacity limited to foodgrains and pulses **** India’s worst-kept secret was finally revealed when the government threw up its hands in despair in the...
More »Of luxury cars and lowly tractors by P Sainath
Even as the media celebrate the Mercedes Benz deal in the Marathwada region as a sign of “rural resurgence,” the latest data show that 17,368 farmers killed themselves in the year of the “resurgence.” When businessmen from Aurangabad in the backward Marathwada region bought 150 Mercedes Benz luxury cars worth Rs. 65 crore at one go in October, it grabbed media attention. The top public sector bank, State Bank of India,...
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