The countrywide share of corporate retail in food distribution tripled in the past four years when retail food prices showed the greatest increase. THE dramatic increase in food inflation over the past two years has been associated with several surprises. One major surprise has been how the top economic policymakers in the country have responded to it. The initial response was one of apparent disbelief, followed very quickly by the...

The term ‘money laundering’ is said to have originated from mafia ownership of Laundromats in the US. Gangsters there were earning huge sums in Cash by extortion, prostitution, gambling and bootleg liquor. They needed to show a legitimate source for these monies. Money launderers now resort to the use of apparently legitimate commercial transactions to camouflage their laundering activities. There has been an increasing amount of interest of late in commodity...

Estimating black money has been a long time preoccupation of economists and tax collectors in India. Several books have been written and several government reports prepared. It is possible to suggest that the policy disincentives that may have contributed to black money generation, like high tax rates, have been moderated, if not eliminated, and that the incentive to declare income has gone up since the beginning of tax and policy...

NREGA has always been touted as the UPAs flagship scheme but there have been a number of instances when the scheme has been misused by those who are dispensing funds.   IAS officers Sukhveer Singh and Chandrashekar Borkar both posted in Seedhi district in Madhya Pradesh, between 2006 and 2007, were charged with misappropriating nine crore rupees during this tenure. Funds meant for NREGA, a scheme that ensures hundred days of work...

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is calling on countries to carefully examine the implications of high food prices and not to take any policy actions that might appear useful in the short term but could have harmful, longer-term effects or even aggravate the situation. The call comes with the agency’s publication today of an updated guide for policy-makers in developing countries, aimed at helping them address the negative...