THE Centre could make changes to the new Nutrient-based Subsidy (NBS) for fertilisers, as part of a concerted move to prune its subsidy bill after global prices of fertiliser nosedived recently. Under the NBS, subsidies for nutrients are currently fixed for a whole year but could now be reviewed every six months to take into account changes, especially price drops, in import prices. The Union Cabinet, while approving the NBS...

The cotton growing area is expected to increase by at least 10 per cent during this season because farmers are getting Rs 3,200 per quintal while the Cotton Corporation of India has fixed the minimum support price at Rs 3,000 per quintal. During last year, cotton-sowing area in Andhra Pradesh was increased to 34 lakh acre from 32 lakh acre. This year, it is expected to increase to 38 lakh acre....

vineyard owners of Maharashtra who export grapes are worried. The Euro-pean Union rejected their table grape consignments in mid-April as they were found containing traces of chlormequat chloride, a plant growth regulator. The export of table grapes (these are consumed directly unlike grapes that go into wine making) was halted immediately. The farmers are facing losses of about Rs 300 crore, media reported. “My son-in-law had exported two containers (30...

‘Beggar type.’ Like most of us, Smita Jacob had never come across that pithy official phrase before. It’s a classification in the records of the police of New Delhi, India’s richest city, used to describe a dead homeless person whose death is too insignificant to investigate. The police are as sensitive as you and I to the cripple on the pavement, the child at the car window. They mean no...

Noting that it was committed to extending social security cover to all sections, the Government on Tuesday said it had decided to set up a National Social Security Fund for workers in the unorganised sector. “The National Social Security Fund for workers in the unorganised sector would cover weavers, toddy tappers, rickshaw pullers and bidi workers with an initial allocation of Rs. 1000 crore,” the UPA government's Report to the People...