-Down to Earth Studies indicate high food inflation As Met office predicts below normal rainfall because of El Nino this year, a study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) has projected a 1.75 per cent GDP reduction and loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the unskilled sector. The report released recently says that five per cent deficit rainfall forecast by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will...

-The Hindu Business Line Given the analytical output, it will become easier for governments to take decisions Global country risks, weather uncertainty, crop failure, lack of hedging instruments, increased capital costs, lack of insurance mechanisms and logistical bottlenecks are just a few of the issues that lead to volatility in prices of agricultural commodities. This volatility, combined with a steady increase in demand for food around the world, has forced us to accept...

-The Indian Express How Punjab is making the best use of the flawed public distribution system. Inclusive economic growth is a political, economic and social necessity. The question is: what is the right strategy to ensure this? Most of our programmes to help the underprivileged have suffered from leakages and inefficiencies, so that the benefits have not accrued to the targeted groups but the strain on our fiscal deficit remains. Subsidies are...

-The Hindu     Aberrations in monsoon behaviour are not uncommon. What is new is the difficulty in forecasting caused by factors coming under the generic title, ‘Climate change.' Forecasts by the South Asian Climate Outlook Forum and the India Meteorological Department indicate that the south-west monsoon rainfall may be deficient. Also, there is a possibility of the evolution of an El Niño event during June to September. There is a 45 per cent...

-Live Mint To alleviate poverty and extend true food security to its people India must bring efficiency to public expenditures In the Indian economy, where almost half of the average household's expenditures goes toward food and half the labour force is engaged in agriculture, one cannot simply wish away the centrality of agriculture just because its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around a comparatively low 14%. India's agriculture is responsible...