Bring farmers to farms

The new era of price rise can be turned into a profitable proposition for the farmer

A question of political will

CHHATTISGARH “It was a crazy time and we took great risks,” said Alok Shukla. “Sometimes I shudder to think what would have happened if we had not succeeded. We would have been facing audit questions the rest of our lives.” Shukla was referring to his challenging time as food secretary of Chhattisgarh during 2007-08 when he transformed the crumbling and corrupt PDS into an efficient, streamlined organisation. Thankfully, Shukla succeeded and was given the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration for 2008-09 along with two other officials.

Pushing the food coupon

The Centre is pushing the concept of food coupons as a way of ending the inefficient public distribution system. First proposed in the Economic survey in February, the proposal has now been fleshed out by Kaushik Basu, chief economic adviser to the Ministry of Finance.

Seeds of Strife

IT WAS yet another meeting in a series that began six years ago.

Games the Centre plays

And states fight back For the past five years, the Centre and the states have been fighting a battle over seed pricing with Delhi frequently changing the rules to outsmart state governments that had decided to clamp down on predatory pricing.

A high support price for pulses

THE government has raised the minimum support prices for pulses by up to Rs 700. It is a 15-30 per cent increase over the previous year.

Got Fodder?

Manju and Mukesh Gupta have had to reduce their milk intake because the two rupee per litre milk price hike has become too much of an expense. Meanwhile, Tughlakhabad Farm Owner Karam Vee explains increases in milk prices is the result of reduced fodder production.

Letters

Relocated and damned It is disheartening to learn the plight of residents of Bikhnathori village in Bihar who don’t have basic facilities like water and electricity (‘Corridor of uncertainty’, March 1-15, 2010).

Letters

Suspend cancer vaccine licences Women and child rights groups as well as health networks are deeply concerned with the manner in which the two vaccines for cervical cancer— Gardasil and Cervarix—have been approved for marketing in India (see ‘Half a cervical cancer vaccine’, May 1-15).

Not quite the pulse of the nation

In order to counter spiralling pulse prices, the Union government is supplying imported yellow pea at one-third the market price of popular pulses. Six months ago, when pulse prices looked like increasing, grain traders as well as the government saw an opportunity in importing yellow peas from Canada, where it is cheap because it is grown for fodder.