An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is likely to revise the issue price of levy sugar for the public distribution system (PDS). The group is going to meet on Thursday with a three-point agenda for discussion. The government had recently increased the price of levy sugar for mills, which is meant for PDS, to an average of Rs 17.57 per kg for the 2009-10 crop...

The goal of food for all can be achieved only through sustained efforts in producing, saving and sharing foodgrains. The Supreme Court of India has rendered great service by arousing public, professional and political concern about the co-existence of rotting grain mountains and mounting hungry mouths. In several African countries hunger is increasing because food is either not available in the market, or is too expensive for the poor. Food inflation...

The Yamuna may be in spate near Delhi, states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat, Kerala and Tamil Nadu may be soaked wet and the Mithi river -- the lifeline of Mumbai -- could be flowing at the brim, but for people in the East and Northeast India the thirst for rain prolongs. They wait for the rain gods to smile upon them. Overall, this is one of the best monsoon India has...

The kharif acreage has exceeded the last year's level by 78.93 lakh hectares. The Crop and Weather Watch Group in the Ministry of Agriculture, at its meeting on Friday, noted that the crops were so far sown in 950.22 lakh hectares as against 871.29 lakh hectares in the corresponding period last year. As per the data received from States, paddy has been sown in 312.42 lakh hectares as compared to 293.24 lakh...

Thanks to a fairly good Southwest Monsoon, the total area under kharif crops in the ongoing sowing season is 8.33 million hectares, higher than last year. According to the Agriculture Ministry, against an area of 92.3 million hectares this season, the coverage was 83.97 million hectares in the corresponding period last year. The area under paddy is higher by about seven per cent. Against 27.6 million hectares sown last year, this year so...