-The Hindu Reforms must be part of a continuing agenda. The basic principle guiding reforms must be to create a competitive environment with a stress on efficiency. In many ways the coming decade will be crucial for India as growth is the answer to many of its socio-economic problems The data on national income released recently give a new twist to India's growth story. The most significant change is with respect to...
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Prospects for wheat exports turn bleak -Vishwanath Kulkarni
-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru: Prospects for wheat exports in the new marketing season are turning bleak on falling global prices even as the country is seen headed for a bumper output this year. The recent fall in Euro against the dollar has made the French wheat cheaper thereby exerting pressure on the global prices. Wheat prices, which hovered around $6.6 a bushel in Chicago during mid December are now down to...
More »Focus on east for grain
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Food Corporation of India (FCI) should focus on procuring grains from eastern states such as Bengal, Bihar and Assam where the second green revolution is expected, a government panel said today. "The FCI should move on to help those states where farmers suffer from distress sales at prices much below MSP (minimum support price), and which are dominated by small holdings, such as eastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar,...
More »The next farm downtrend -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express It's likely that India's crop production this year will be lower compared to 2013-14, given deficient rains both in the southwest (June-September) and northeast (October-December) monsoons impacting kharif as well as rabi plantings. But that by itself needn't be cause for concern. We have seen one-off farm output declines even in 2009-10, 2004-05 and 2002-03, which were also drought years. What should worry us more, instead, is the...
More »Cash transfers, the lazy short cut -Mihir Shah
-The Hindu Alleviating poverty in India requires not only cash transfers but also other enabling changes Advocates of unconditional cash transfers claim that they can be both emancipatory and transformative. They argue that people are quite capable of making rational decisions. And that this kind of basic income support can improve their lives. I have no quarrel with the claim that we must trust the poor. Such suspicion is part of an elite...
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