-The Times of India Milk prices are set to soar yet again. Rising inflation and increase in excise duty on packaging material for milk pouches are likely to make milk dearer by Rs 2 per litre, said R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets Amul milk across the country. While he did not say when the price hike will come into effect, sources said...

-The Telegraph The wage rate under rural job scheme NREGA could soon be brought on a par with the minimum wages for agricultural labourers fixed by states. The Centre is likely to amend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by incorporating a provision saying the wage cannot be less than the minimum rate for agricultural labourers in a particular state. At present, there are discrepancies between the two. A Karnataka...

One man’s fiscal problem is another man’s lifeline. Trigger happy bureaucrats and economists may love shooting down subsidies because it bloats the fiscal deficit and burdens the government but the simple fact is that in a one billion strong nation, in which nearly one in every three live below the poverty line, one needs an effective and efficient method through which privileged tax payers can support the poor. Last week, finance...

-The Hindu Food subsidies for poorest will help them cope: ADB A hike in the cost of food staples like rice and wheat could push tens of millions more people into extreme poverty in the South Asian region including India, says an Asian Development Bank (ADB) report. The Manila-based lending agency, in its report “Food Price Escalation in South Asia – A Serious and Growing Concern” released on Monday, however, said that food...

-PTI Retail inflation was at 8.83 per cent in February on account of higher prices of protein based items and edible oil products.  Retail inflation, based on the Consumer Price Index, was 7.65 per cent the January, as per the government data release here today.  Among other items, only vegetable prices saw a decline of 4.73 per cent over the February 2011 level.  During the month, the prices of egg, meat and fish rose...