-The Hindu Business Line While some farmers organisations have welcomed the Narendra Modi Government's stance in World Trade Organisation, some others feel that the Government's actions do not match its words with regard to its stance on food security and farm subsidies at home. "We totally support the Government's stand on WTO's Trade Facilitation Agreement. In fact, in a country like ours, agriculture should be totally kept out of the purview of...

-The Deccan Herald The poverty line continues to be a conundrum. The fixing of the poverty line at Rs 47 for urban areas and Rs. 32 in rural areas per capita per day by the latest Rangarajan committee report, based on a person or family's spending per day (called ‘consumption expenditure') has again drawn vociferous criticism. All these years, this all important line has not been fixed in a rational manner, rendering...

-The Business Standard States need to create alternative marketing structures for farm produce since middlemen also provide vital services that are otherwise unavailable to the farmer   One of the issues often raised in the context of high food inflation is the pressing need to change the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC), the marketing boards established by state governments. The earlier United Progressive Alliance government had asked the Congress-ruled states to remove fruit...

-The Hindu   Obesity among children due to rampant consumption of junk food has reached epidemic proportions. With India already in the grip of this dangerous global trend, the government needs to remove its blinkers on the processed food industry One of the first declarations of the newly elected government in June was a proposal to ban unhealthy or junk food (defined as food high on fat, sugar and salt) in school...

-The Hindu Business Line The primary mandate of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) acting under directions of Food Ministry is to service requirements of the public distribution system (PDS) in association with State Government Agencies (SGAs). But over the years, FCI has also been called upon to intervene in managing market prices, albeit with little success. FCI efficiently procures wheat, paddy/milled rice but faces odds while selling surplus grains in the...