The spectre of economy slipping back to the Hindu rate of growth over the long term is looming large over New Delhi’s Raisina Hills that houses the North Block, the place where the Budget for 2012-13 is in the works.  The investment climate for manufacturing, mining and service sector has turned bleak because of such [...]

This year’s GHI report focuses particular attention on the issue of food price spikes and volatility, which have played a large role in the global food crises of 2007-08 and 2010-11. Prior to the GHI release, another international report admitted to the speculators’ role in the food futures markets while defending the role of futures [...]

  India’s trudge from green revolution to evergreen revolution requires an appropriate blend of technological innovations and multi-faceted market initiatives. While sustainable farming is often extolled as the key to evergreen revolution, agricultural marketing continues to cry for attention, burdened as it is with innumerable regulations. It has been developed haphazardly and the absence of [...]

  Balancing the conflicting interest of farmers, intermediaries and consumers is a tightrope walk for the Indian government even when there is price tranquility. This balancing exercise has become nightmarish in recent years with food inflation showing persistency and turbulence. These developments prompted the Cabinet Secretary to constitute an inter-ministerial group (IMG) to manage overall [...]

  “Unless our farmers are adequately remunerated for their hard work and devotion,  it will not be possible to feed 1.15 billion people….” – Congress Economic Resolution, December 2010   As always, the agriculture sector has been left in the lurch by Mr Pranab Mukherjee in his Union Budget 2011-12. Yet, consider the compassionate statements [...]

The idea of giving fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers appears good on paper but its implementation bristles with controversies. Fertilisers are political commodities and any mess-up with them can rock the government of the day. It is hardly surprising then to find successive governments treading this uncertain area at snail’s pace. Several official reports have [...]