Policymakers have repeatedly said that commodity futures help farmers hedge their risks. But data from Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the regulator for the business worth Rs 106 lakh crore during April-October, paints a different picture. The share of agricultural trade is just a tad over 10% and within this, food products such as soya oil and chana accounted for less than 7% of the total value. Of course, the government itself...

-Express News Service   The report of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice on the Lokpal Bill, which was tabled in Parliament Friday, obviously saw more divergence than convergence, with 17 of the 30 members recording their dissent. In fact, the position of the dissenting three Congress members, Meenakshi Natarajan, P T Thomas and Deepa Dasmunsi, was closer to the Opposition on three important points — they suggested that the Central Vigilance...

Prakash Karat today came close to thanking Mamata Banerjee, not for defeating the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government but for thwarting the Manmohan Singh government. “Will be very happy if she hijacks our issue,” the CPM general secretary said in reply to a question whether Mamata had snatched the Left’s plank on foreign direct investment in retail. After the pat — presumably in jest — came the prod. “I think Trinamul should not be...

The Assembly elections this year, followed by squabbles and tussles between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the CPM at various gram panchayats and panchayat samitis after the regime change, have spelt doom for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in West Bengal. In the seven months from April 1 to October 31, only 19 days of jobs could be given to 2.55 lakh families and 4.17 crore mandays could...

The Mamata Banerjee government has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to withdraw its Left predecessor’s appeal against a Calcutta High Court order that had described the March 2007 police firing in Nandigram as “unconstitutional” and “wholly unjustified”. If the apex court allows the state’s latest plea, it will pave the way for cases being filed against any erring policeman, officer or government official. The “unconstitutional” tag too will stand, as will the...