-The Times of India   The proposed Food Security Act may not put additional burden on the government in the current fiscal year as the government can find the resources to fund the plan from the spending outlined for 2011-12 , finance ministry officials said. However, the food subsidy bill could soar to as much as Rs 75,000 crore from the estimated Rs 60,572.98 crore for the 2011-12 fiscal. Finance ministry...

-The Hindu   The e-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests, have the potential to turn a growing problem into a development opportunity. With almost a year to go before the rules take effect, there is enough time to create the necessary infrastructure for collection, dismantling, and recycling of electronic waste. The focus must be on sincere and efficient implementation. Only decisive action can...

The state food department has drawn up elaborate plans to develop the infrastructure of the public distribution system (PDS) following chief minister Mamata Banerjee's visit to Khadya Bhavan last week. During the visit, the chief minister asked that a committee comprising trade union members be formed and that they come up with suggestions on how to improve the infrastructure of the PDS scheme and evict corruption from the system. A...

-IANS   The problem of inflation has worsened across India but the price rise has been sharper in rural areas than urban, official data showed Monday. The consumer price index for rural areas jumped by 9 percent in May, while that for urban areas rose by 5 percent, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office. In a bid to monitor price movements in the different parts of the country, the statistics...

-The Business Standard   Retail price inflation for agricultural and rural labourers rose to 9.63 per cent in May, from 9.11 per cent the previous month, mainly because of a rise in the prices of food, fuel and clothing. Wholesale price inflation for May rose to 9.06 per cent from 8.66 per cent a month earlier and was one of the factors for the Reserve Bank of India to raise the repo...