Various estimates of the extra cost to the government for an improved food security Bill are doing the rounds, but many agree the Union government's proposed food subsidy bill would double.
While news on the monsoon front remains bleak (rainfall during June 1 to 17 was 45 per cent below normal), water levels in reservoirs across the country are dwindling, Citi economist Rohini Malkani said on Monday. Earlier this month, Citi revised its FY'10 GDP forecast for India to 6.8 per cent from 5.5 per cent and it raised its view to 7.8 per cent from 6.6 per cent for FY'11 on the back of election results and higher investment growth.
'I will be happy if walls are built between India and China!' 'We are going to nooks and corners of the country to make ordinary people realise the need to buy Indian goods so that our workers get jobs.'
Congress will fight against Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and not BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections as the Sangh is now in control of the saffron party, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Sunday.
It is eyeing the proposed Food Security Bill as one of the areas of pro-active involvement, even as the government is not much interested to consult the estranged comrades. The Bill has the potential of being the biggest social sector programme of the second Manmohan Singh government, just as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act did during the first UPA regime.
The industry needs a 10 year extension of tax benefits for standalone R&D entities.
In a critical comment on India, one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, the World Bank said that robust economic growth and food security alone would not remove the tag of being 'one of the most malnourished nations'.
'The revival of household savings and investment is the litmus test of whether we are on the road to recovery,' says Nitin Desai.
President Pranab Mukherjee has convened a three-day Governors conference from February 12 to articulate the stability of the Union Government, anticipating a hung Parliament in May 2014.
'A sum of Rs 6,000 a year is very significant for a small farmer whose land holding is very small and whose produce is very small. All these calculations on a daily basis are extremely unfortunate and an insult to farmers.'
After a foreign education, Krishna Banerjee chose to dedicate her life to voluntary social work among women in rural West Bengal.
According to the SEZ Act, 2005, there is no upper limit for land acquisition by state governments. It also allows acquisition of wasteland and single-crop land, putting negative impact on common property resources like land, forest and water bodies.
Calling Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh a "non-serious" person, Madhya Pradesh Industries Minister Kailash Vijaywargiya on Thursday said the decision on the Batla House encounter is a befitting reply to Singh, who had termed it "a fake encounter".
The minister blamed 'fragmented farming, provisions in the Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development & Regulation) Act, lack of cold chain facilities, transportation, proper storage and processing facilities' for the losses.
The centre pays only an insulting Rs 200 per pensioner each month at a tight-fisted 0.04 per cent of GDP, among the lowest in the world. Instead, as illustrated by Jean Drze, one option is for NYAY to provide individual rather than household entitlements to all pensioners of at least Rs 1200 per month.
The United Nations on Friday expressed concern that food prices continue to remain high in developing countries, hurting millions of poor in both rural and urban areas.
WFP is calling for further support to alleviate world hunger, as the G-8 summit gathers this week in L'Aquila, Italy, to discuss the global food security crisis, UN spokeswoman, Michele Montas, told reporters at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
'This prime minister thinks he knows everything.' 'He has to consult, he has to talk and he has to mobilise the best people, but having seen him function, I have no expectations from him.'
He noted that the current crisis was triggered by a confluence of factors including increased use of biofuels, surging demand for agri products due to population and economic growth in emerging markets and inadequate supply of cereals -- which is at its lowest levels in three decades. Further aggravating these problems are restrictive protectionist measures taken by some exporting nations, speculation on futures markets and high prices of agricultural inputs, he added.
In 2009, when urban India was in the throes of a slowdown, with growth likely down to 6 per cent and shopping malls going empty, the electorate gave a clear thumbs up.
'While the poor have little say in shaping India's intellectual or public discourse, they do have a significant role in deciding political outcomes,' points out Roshan Kishore.
'I am almost tempted to say there is some kind of a vested interest operating to play down the achievements of Modi.' 'I think the focus should be on what has been achieved in 70 days and not on how this government functions.' Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's exclusive interview with Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com on how the Modi sarkar is changing India.
Terming terror infrastructure in Pakistan as the 'greatest danger' to the entire world, India on Monday said efforts made by the international community to deal with the situation are 'not enough' and that New Delhi will use 'all measures' necessary to tackle the problem.
The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development stopped short of an explicit global action plan, but highlighted several options that leaders throughout the public and private might consider in an effort to assure affordable food is produced in a sustainable manner. The report said agricultural knowledge, science and technology alone cannot solve problems "caused by complex political and social dynamics"
Abhishek Singhania left a career at PwC to work in a food security project as a research fellow.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politburo member and Andhra Pradesh unit secretary B V Raghavulu has demanded that the government of India immediately come out with a Rs 5 lakh crore (Rs 5 trillion) relief package to aid people in these troubled times.
The four key risk areas India needs to focus on at the moment include economic security, energy security, agriculture and food security and national security, it adds. The WEC-CII report says many issues facing India in these four areas will require considerable long-term investment from both public and private sectors. 'Decision-makers in government and business will be forced to make trade-offs as to where spending and investments are allocated,' it said.
The WTO has fixed an external reference price (ERP) for rice at Rs 3.52 per kg
High economic growth rates have failed to improve food security in India leaving the country facing a crisis in its rural economy, the United Nations World Food Programme warned.
The trend of acquiring land abroad for growing food and other crops may have got a fresh boost, following the food security concerns provoked by high agricultural prices in 2007 and 2008, but it began a long time ago.
Since much of the voting was on religious lines, Mamata's rural focus became irrelevant.
Renu Mittal explains why United Progressive Alliance government's crucial legislative plans may not work despite all its efforts.
Tomar said that when they opened the packet they were shocked to see parts of a frog and a lizard in it.
As debates and agitation on the issue of spiralling prices of essential commodities corner attention, the research and reference division of the library has come out with supporting material for MPs, bringing out background notes on price rise and global oil prices.
In a turn of events, India on Friday said it was "hopeful" talks for a global deal on easing Customs norms, or a trade facilitation agreement (TFA), would be revived in September, even as it failed to meet the July 31 deadline due to lack of consensus among members over food stockholding and farm subsidies.
'The policy is to consolidate farming into the hands of a few and to take away the food security of the country.' 'Once food is in the hands of 15 chosen corporate houses, you will get food, but at a price that they determine.'
World Bank President Robert B Zoellick in his remarks at the Rome Conference on Food Security pointed out that 28 countries have imposed export bans on food items and stressed 'these restrictions and taxes should be lifted, at a minimum for humanitarian food purchases and transportation by World Food Programme'. UN Secretary General Bank Ki-moon on Tuesday called upon the countries to resist the temptation to impose ban on export of foodgrain.
The most important safety valve as far as food supply is concerned is the short production cycle.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Monday night admitted to AIIMS hospital after she was taken ill in the Lok Sabha where her pet welfare legislation and UPA's ambitious Food Security Bill was in the final stages of adoption.
Narendra Modi, says T V R Shenoy, is 'busy trying to woo back two constituencies that were crucial when the BJP won power in the elections of 1998 and of 1999, namely UP (and the Hindi belt in general) and educated youth.'
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