The ministry of finance and the Planing Commission have finally agreed on increasing gross budgetary support by 18% for the terminal year of the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012). GBS is the monetary assistance provided by the Centre to implement schemes in five-year plans. The ministry of finance will allocate around Rs4.41 lakh crore as part of the planned expenditure in the Budget for the next fiscal, compared with an allocation of Rs3.73...

The present situation is different from that of 2007-2008, although recent climatic events may significantly reduce agricultural production next season. Must history always repeat itself? We are indeed on the verge of what could turn out to be another major food crisis. The FAO Food Price Index at the end of 2010 returned to its highest level. Drought in Russia and the export restrictions adopted by the government, together with...

Government’s food subsidy bill is expected to swell to around Rs 81,000 crore in the current financial year, up from the Budget estimate of around Rs 68,000 crore for 2010-11 because of higher cost of procurement of wheat and rice and increased allocations to below poverty line and above poverty line families in the current financial year, official sources said. The 19% estimated increase in food subsidy also includes those part...

For the Human Rights Day in 2010 the Asian Human Rights Commission presents the reports on the state of human rights in eleven countries in Asia; Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, South Korea and Sri Lanka. The general picture that emerges is one of the failures of the states to carry out their obligations for the protection of people.Serious defects are evident in the area...

With the government-Opposition standoff over a joint parliamentary committee probe into the 2G spectrum scam entering its 14th day, supplementary demand for grants amounting to spending of Rs 45,000 crore were passed without debate by Lok Sabha on Wednesday amid noisy disruptions. Both sides blamed the other for massive spending being decided without debate, with a repeat expected in the upper House on Thursday. Supplementary demands related to railways are expected...