Centre to also give 50% subsidy for new mills, technical help to cultivators. The Union agriculture ministry has identified eight states where the Budget annoucement on expanding the area under oil palm cultivation can be implemented. It has decided to provide 50 per cent subsidy for setting up palm oil extraction units. India imports about 8.2 million tonnes of edible oil in a year and 80 per cent of this is palm...

South India is way ahead of other regions in encashing on the tax-free special economic zones scheme as 79 of 130 functional SEZs are located in four southern states. Among southern states, Andhra Pradesh is on the top of the table with a maximum number of 32 operational special economic zones (SEZs) followed by Tamil Nadu (22), Karnataka (20) and Kerala (7), according to the latest government data. The sector-wise data shows...

The targeted four per cent growth in the agriculture sector could be achieved if agricultural schemes such as System of Rice Intensification and Dryland Farming, initiated in Tamil Nadu, are replicated across India, the Planning Commission has said. "India, producing around 210-220 million tonnes of foodgrains annually, has to increase the productivity from two tonnes per hectare against the world average of four tonnes,'' the Member of the Planning Commission, Dr...

This article documents and then examines the various benefits that, it is claimed, will flow from linking the Unique Identity number with the public distribution system and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. It filters the unfounded claims, which arise from a poor understanding of how the PDS and NREGS function, from the genuine ones. On the latter, there are several demanding conditions that need to be met in order...

Smart card technology can be used to streamline India's unwieldy PDS. But it is yet to prove itself under real world challenges. Smart cards have become the latest buzzword to remedy India's public distribution system (PDS) — one of the largest food grain delivery networks in the world with more than 500,000 ‘ration' shops. Electronic voting machines have streamlined Indian elections. Credit cards, which can be swiped for payment at any...