Inflation declined marginally to a 10-month low of 8.58% in October, prompting policymakers to proclaim victory in their effort to cool prices, but economists remained sceptical saying the fight is far from over. The decline was mainly due a fall in food inflation to 14.13% from 15.71% in September and the base effect, or higher inflation of last year, data released on Monday showed. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the full impact...

The NAC proposals for the food security bill are narrow and lack in vision. What is needed is a comprehensive bill with universalisation of PDS and a focus on child malnutrition.   There was much excitement when food security became one of the issues in the manifestos of most major political parties in the run up to the 2009 General Elections. With burgeoning food stocks, double-digit food inflation, stagnant malnutrition rates, declining...

With mills in Uttar Pradesh yet to begin crushing, farmer leaders have decided to hold their agitation and wait till mills open and declare the price at which they will buy cane. Millers, on the other hand, are of the firm view that they cannot operate feasibly at the state government mandated SAP of 205/quintal and there is no way they can afford to pay an incentive over it, as...

Current production and stocks are adequate to cover the demand The global cereal production for 2010-11 is expected to be 2,239 million tonnes compared to 2, 261 million tonnes recorded in 2009-10, about 1 per cent lower than last year. Reduced output of wheat in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries due to drought, as well as smaller crops in the European Union and North Africa, account for the decline. Even...

The case of the Food Security Bill gets curiouser and curiouser.  What started off as a fight between universalization and targeting has ended (or so it would seem) in a complete victory in the National Advisory Council, Government of India (NAC) for targeting through universalization (if such a thing was possible), with the honourable exception of Prof Jean Dreze, who has to be commended for his ‘note of disagreement’. On...