-The Times of India The Parliament's monsoon session is only about a month away. That the Union cabinet has yet taken the ordinance route to implement the national food security Bill signals the scam-tainted UPA government's desperation to woo voters before the next general elections. But the hope that expanding what is already one of the world's largest food security programmes will boost political fortunes is hallucinatory. The exchequer is already...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Before populism spikes in the run-up to the general elections, the Planning Commission has cautioned states against doling out freebies such as free laptops, tablets, and mobiles in the name of development spending and instead asked them to focus on schemes related to infrastructure development. "This year's message is basically that states must have much more efficient functioning of the inclusiveness scheme. Since a lot of the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A study commissioned by the Planning Commission to validate the growth estimates of the Twelfth Five-Year Plan has thrown up a rather depressing outlook for the economy, sending alarm bells ringing in the government. An independent think tank, the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), has pegged average annual growth for the Twelfth Plan at a mere 4.8%, if the present logjam in policymaking continues. The NCAER...

-The Economic Times India's GDP growth has almost halved from 9.2% in 2010-11 to 5% in 2012-12. Major problems include a high current account deficit, high Fiscal Deficit, and lack of bank credit for small and medium enterprises. All three problems can be mitigated substantially by one single measure - reducing excess food stocks. So say Ashok Gulati and Surabhi Jain, chairman and joint director respectively of the Commission for Agricultural...

-The Business Standard Time to question the assumptions behind the food Bill In the midst of all the politicking as to how and when the draft food security Bill will become law, one thing at least is clear: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) intends to push forward with the much-criticised legislation. UPA-II has little to show for four years in power, and perhaps it imagines that the Bill will somehow alter the...