The new rabi grain pricing policy seems to have been influenced more by macro-concerns about food inflation management rather than any considerations relating to food production planning. The marginal increase in minimum support prices (MSPs) of most rabi crops, barring pulses, is understandable given the government’s focus on inflation reduction and the fact that this marginal increase comes on top of earlier hikes of a decent magnitude. Moreover, there are...

Never mind wishful thinking by the government and RBI. Food will never be cheaper than what it is today. Not this year. Or in future. The reason is simple. Growing food in India has become extremely expensive. Crops are pricier even before they reach the market and face the pulls and tugs of rising local demand and exports. The farMer’s single biggest cost now is labour. Farm labour wages have doubled...

It is the latest face off between Sonia Gandhi led National Advisory Council and Manmohan Singh led UPA government. The Council and the Rural Development Ministry have come to blows over what should be the minimum wage under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The NAC's resolution that endorses the urgent need for increasing wages is in direct conflict with the position taken by the Rural Developemnt Ministry. At the heart...

Block vehicular and railway traffic across Punjab, demand relaxation of paddy procurement norms Various factions of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and organisations of landless labourers blocked the railway traffic at Moga and ten other locations in Punjab on Friday. They also halted the vehicular traffic on many highways, demanding relaxation in the procurement norms of paddy. The protesters claimed that adverse weather conditions had affected the quality of grains, and said...

ForMer chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan on Friday said the Right To Information (RTI) Act "was grossly misused" and needed amending to prevent the misuse. "It is time for introspection on the five-year-old RTI Act. It is grossly misused. Most of the applicants are applying the RTI not for public good, but for misuse," Balakrishnan said at a seminar on "RTI-Key to good governance", organised by the Institute of Secretariat...