-Economic and Political Weekly Price spikes in onion in 2010 and 2013 brought little benefi t to farmers. It is the big traders who manage to maintain high stocks that make a killing in times of sudden price rise. The government's solutions to such problems have only resulted in the further deterioration of wholesale agricultural markets in many states. Kannan Kasturi (kasturi_kannan@yahoo.com) is an independent researcher and writes on public interest and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government on Friday decided to raise the annual cap on the number of subsidized cylinders per household to 12 from nine after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi gave a cue at the AICC session, saying the present ceiling was inadequate for households. Confirming that the cap would be raised, oil minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters that a proposal would be taken to the Cabinet shortly....

-The Hindu Demand is high in semi-urban areas; hay supplements the animal feed TIRUCHI: There has been a scramble for purchasing hay for cattle among livestock owners in the district. The demand for hay has been on the rise, particularly in semi-urban areas, where the cattle owners have to largely rely on the hay available in nearby villages. No sooner a paddy field is harvested cattle owners camp in the area. A case in...

-The Times of India VARANASI: In an extremely cold and shivering night, a man with torn clothes was eating something picked up from a dustbin at platform number 4 of Charbagh railway station of Lucknow. Some passenger may have thrown the leftover eatable. But, finding it insufficient to satiate his hunger the man started looking for some more stuff in other dustbins at the platform. When this correspondent tried to interact with...

A new report on India's housing sector confirms with facts and figures what has been suspected all along: that despite growing demand for affordable housing, supply side responses have been weak and sluggish. This means even though the housing sector can directly impact employment and income generation, and has multiple forward and backward linkages with various industries, it needs innovative ideas, pro-poor thinking and policy stimulus. (See link below for...