-Live Mint After a record harvest of 90.23 mt this year, the govt’s wheat stocks were at 38.2 mt as of 1 May Worry lines run deep on the faces of wheat farmers in Sehrala in Haryana as falling prices, higher input costs and poor infrastructure erode earnings and cast doubt over not just their next crop, but their future in agriculture as well. Agents in the grain market of Ballabgarh said spot...

Amid protests over India's steepest-ever petrol price hike last week, many are now beginning to ask the question: Is the government milking the common man to keep its oil companies profitable? Consider these: Each time, you fill your car with a litre of petrol in Delhi, the Centre gets richer by Rs. 14.78 and state government earns another Rs. 12.20. In 2010-11 ( the latest figures available), the Centre and state governments...

This certainly won’t help swallow the  bitter petrol-hike pill. Petrol prices have tripled for the common man in the last 13 years but the country’s top civil servants haven’t had to deal with a fuel hike since 1999. Senior government officials pay a measly Rs. 700 every month to use their air-conditioned official cars for private purposes. This amount was last fixed in 1999, when petrol went for Rs. 23.80...

When the opinion of the unattractive sweaty Indian is less important than that of his better looking, English speaking, compatriot. Diesel prices had gone up, and the input desk at NDTV in New Delhi had dispatched me to get reactions from customers at a gas station. Vox pop, they call it in the business, the voice of the people. I was interning in reporting that very hot month of June, so...

The dreaded El Niño weather phenomenon is set to appear during the second half of the southwest monsoon, which may cause less-than-expected rains in August and September. El Niño had earlier hit the Indian monsoon in 2009, when the country faced a severe drought. This time, its impact is not clear as of now, but if there are excessive breaks in the monsoon, crops of paddy, oilseeds and pulses could...