The arrival of large quantities of wheat in the grain markets of the Punjab-Haryana region is a heart-warming sight, while poor storage is a matter of national shame. It was in April-May 1968, that the country witnessed the wonderful spectacle of large arrivals of wheat grain in the mandis of Punjab like Moga and Khanna. Wheat production in the country rose to nearly 17 million tonnes that year, from the previous...

In early April, the government was sitting on a pile of 44 mt of wheat and rice, more than double of what is required for maintaining the buffer stock Every three or four years, India witnesses a boom-and-bust cycle in agriculture. In the trough, prices hot up and imports of foodgrains become necessary. At the crest, all that is forgotten, there is talk of exports and life moves on. Any thought...

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has pulled up the state government for its failure to ensure the supply of quality ration to the people. In its annual report, the CAG said there was no testing laboratory or trained manpower for conducting quality inspection of the foodgrains supplied through the Public Distribution System (PDS) in the state. “The PDS (Control) Order, 2001, envisages that the representatives of the Consumer Affairs...

The government on Tuesday approved a short-term loan of Rs 5,000 crore for Food Corporation of India (FCI), which will help the organisation meet its working capital requirements this fiscal. The proposal was cleared in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) held here. "The CCEA today approved a short-term loan of Rs 5,000 crore to the FCI for 2010-11," an official statement said. FCI, the nodal agency for...

Most farmers are worrying over the sudden shortage of water supply to the paddy crop which is currently being grown over 10 lakh acres in the Godavari districts, which accounts for the bulk of the rice procured in the state by the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Some farmers even staged a protest against water scarcity in West Godavari on Sunday. Farmers’ leaders alleged that shortage of water mostly affected...