At least 100,000 trade unionists marched through New Delhi on Wednesday in a protest against high food prices and unemployment, piling pressure on an administration under fire over corruption scandals. The demonstration was the biggest in New Delhi in years and included members of a trade union linked to the ruling Congress party, reflecting disquiet within the party over food inflation which hit a high of over 18 percent last December. It...
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Why agriculture policies are outdated and contradictory by MJ Prabu
The Government does not bother to know what crops are being sown “India's daily turnover from vegetables and fruits could be easily about Rs. 275 crores (US$ 59 million). The estimated cost of ‘wastage' per day, is around Rs. 130 crores (US$ 27 million). In summary, it's a lot bigger than some of the Indian IT sector's daily turnover”, says Mr. Venkat Subramanian, Founder and Managing Director, Matchbox Solutions, a company...
More »UN food experts call for increased agricultural investment to offset soaring prices
Faced with soaring food prices for the second time in three years, senior United Nations experts today called for greater investment in agriculture from both the public and private sectors to increase smallholder productivity. “Policy-related solutions are also required to increase the longer-term resilience of global agriculture to allow greater levels of supply to markets as demand grows,” UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Senior Economist Jamie Morrison told a meeting...
More »Team Nilekani to shape model for direct susbidy transfer
In a bid to check wasteful fuel and fertiliser subsidy and reach it to the intended beneficiaries , the government has set up a task force to suggest a suitable mechanism of direct transfer of subsidy to the consumers. The task force will be headed by Nandan Nilekani , Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI )) and has been asked to submit an interim report within four months....
More »Nilekani to head task force on direct subsidies
In a move aimed at a focussed targeting of subsidies for the country's poor, the government on Monday announced the setting up of an inter-ministerial task force under Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani. It will work out a suitable mechanism to provide direct subsidies on kerosene, cooking gas (LPG) and fertilizers for the intended beneficiaries. In a statement here, the Finance Ministry said the task force was set...
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