The government is considering several options to rationalise the subsidy on cooking gas such as excluding income tax payers from getting subsidised cylinders, limiting availability per household and higher prices for urban customers to provide this clean fuel in rural areas. “Those who can afford must pay the full price, while subsidised LPG should be made available to the poor,” an oil ministry official said adding that the ministry has...

Farmers in drought hit districts in this unusually heavy rains monsoon season will get a diesel subsidy of Rs 500 per hectare, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar announced here on Friday at the start of the National Conference on Rabi Campaign, even as the Centre awaits bumper crop production for most key Kharif crops including paddy, pulses, coarse cereals and sugarcane. Oilseeds are the only crop where acreage is lower than...

Output of major crops, including sugar, will be better or equal to 2008-09’s production figures, but food prices are unlikely to return to that year’s levels. Food inflation may have permanently changed to stay on the higher side, economists have said. For a UPA government battling high prices, this could be a gloomy piece of news. A surplus monsoon has boosted acreages of all crops, according to food ministry figures. Output of...

When we have policies trample on people's rights, and people go to courts seeking redress, what should the courts do, Prime Minister? Dear Prime Minister, I was delighted to learn that you said, while also “respectfully” ticking off the Supreme Court, that tackling food, rotting grain etc., — are all policy matters. You are absolutely right and it was time somebody said so. With that, you brought a whiff of honesty so...

The parliamentary panel on food and agriculture has recommended against sugar decontrol, claiming the move will go against the interest of farmers as well as consumers. The views of this panel, expressed in a report tabled in the Parliament yesterday, are not binding. “The committee is of the opinion that if the entire control on manufacturing and distribution of sugar is removed, the PDS scheme will be adversely affected, as sugar...