The Food and Agriculture Organisation has raised the red flag over a potential spike in global prices of sugar and cereals, especially wheat. Although India might just get away thanks to a bumper output this year, it could get caught in the spiralling milk and edible oil prices. In any case, the government has virtually thrown its hands in the air on taming fruit and vegetable prices. But it isn't just...

With the government revising wages under MGNREGA, it could be another pressure point for rising inflation, if appropriate policy action to address the demand-supply gap is not in place, said the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday. "MGNREGA has the potential to raise the wage bargaining power even in the unorganised sector, particularly in the agriculture and construction sectors, besides raising rural demand at a faster pace relative to the...

NREGA has always been touted as the UPAs flagship scheme but there have been a number of instances when the scheme has been misused by those who are dispensing funds.   IAS officers Sukhveer Singh and Chandrashekar Borkar both posted in Seedhi district in Madhya Pradesh, between 2006 and 2007, were charged with misappropriating nine crore rupees during this tenure. Funds meant for NREGA, a scheme that ensures hundred days of work...

Export curbs during 2008 crisis ‘exacerbated' situation. The Food and Agriculture Organisation on Wednesday said short-term policy actions, especially curbs on exports, could have harmful effects in the longer term and even aggravate the situation. In statement put on its website, the organisation, a body of the United Nations, pointed out at the 2007-08 crisis in the global food market as an example of how such decision can exacerbate the situation...

The heat generated by the high food inflation may force the government to go slow, or even drop, some of its key proposals to open up the country's food and fertiliser sectors, experts say. Decontrolling sugar and urea and freeing up some farm exports are some of the proposals the government may not touch in the coming days, they say. The proposal on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail may also...