Would you rather buy a necessity like kerosene or food grains at a subsidy or receive an equivalent amount of Cash instead? Would you prefer that the government decides your consumption pattern rather than figuring out on your own how to spend your income? One of the “big ticket” reform items in the budget was the announcement that subsidies on kerosene, fertilizers and Liquefied Petroleum Gas and delivery through the Public...

In line with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget announcement on Monday that the government is looking at direct Cash transfers as an alternative to the current subsidy on kerosene and fertilizers and to prevent leakages, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to open Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for the purpose. These can be used for other financial transactions as well. The authority is in the process of empanelling banks...

The government is looking at allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retailing as part of a slew of measures to make India more attractive to overseas investors. Senior government officials told TOI that the thinking was that a gradual opening up would be a better strategy with global chains first allowed to open stores in metros, while wholesale Cash-and-carry being limited to smaller towns and cities, at least for the...

World Bank president Robert Zoellick recently listed nine measures that the G20 should adopt under its current French presidency. These range from improving information about grain stocks and developing better weather-forecasting methods to strengthening social safety nets for the poor and helping small farmers benefit from tenders from humanitarian purchasers such as the World Food Programme . These measures tackle only the symptoms of the global food system's weaknesses, leaving the...

Sainath cautions West Bengal that it is in a very fragile situation ‘Eastern India fares better in agrarian crisis compared to Western States' Warns against following practices of corporate-led agriculture Even though West Bengal is one of the only three States in the country that has seen a decline in the rates of farmer suicides over the last 15 years, the situation in the State as in the rest of the country is...