Differences within the ruling government alliance over food management came to the fore on Tuesday with home minister P Chidambaram questioning agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's pitch for resuming export of sugar. A meeting convened by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to discuss measures to calm soaring food prices saw sugar become a key focus area with Pawar plumping for freeing its export, citing an expected bumper crop this year. As soon...

Farmers in West Bengal whose land will be acquired will now get three cottahs of developed land for commercial purpose for every acre of land. This will be in addition to a compensation based on market rate. Even before the Central government came up with a fresh land acquisition Act and rehabilitation policy, the West Bengal government on Thursday announced its new rehabilitation package for the state’s farmers. Commerce and Industries...

‘For the Indian media, the key question is one of covering mass deprivation' Time to rediscover concept of freedom of press in Marxist terms: Sashi Kumar N. Ram, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindu, has called for “bold and radical” ways to check the ethical failings of the media. Inaugurating a seminar ‘Whither Media,' organised as part of the three-day Third International Congress on Kerala Studies, which concluded here on Monday, Mr. Ram said that...

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has been hailed as a landmark initiative to alleviate poverty and generate productive wage employment, even if for only 100 days, for unskilled rural labour. Given its historic features, it is a pity that the rollout of the programme in many states has been less than satisfactory, and leakage of funds has become rampant. More worryingly, it has begun to have...

If the price rise is due to production shortfall, how does one explain the near doubling of the price within a few days? The sharply rising onion prices have raised the suspicion that speculators are manipulating a shortage situation. First, a few facts. In retail markets, onion prices have soared from Rs 10-11 per kg in June to as high as Rs 70-80 on Dec 21. Even more significantly, prices zoomed by...