Govt could import wheat: Pawar.
NEW DELHI: Union agriculture, food and civil supplies minister Sharad Pawar has indicated the Centre may import wheat to meet its food security needs this year, too. "When the question pertains to the food security of our nation and if we find there is not sufficient (foodgrain) in our...

By 2017, biofuel will meet 10% of transport needs.
Byline: Nitin Sethi NEW DELHI: Disregarding the consequences of the use of scarce land to grow biofuels on environment and food security, India is readying a national biofuel policy, which aims to set a target of meeting about 10% of total transport fuel with bio-fuels by 2017....

Poll-bound states likely to put stock limits on wheat.
Byline: Nidhi Nath Srinivas NEW DELHI: The government continues to be in war mode on food prices, using a combination of non-tariff barriers and imports to keep a lid on the situation. While consumers can look forward to cheap one-litre pouches of vegetable oil in ration shops,...

Crop worth Rs 55,600 cr wasted every year.
NEW DELHI: For a country reeling under an unprecedented food crisis, here is an alarming figure: India losses Rs 55,600 crore worth of crops each year after harvesting. This has been admitted by the government before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture. Foodgrain worth Rs 16,500 crore,...

A mandate for action: addressing the food crisis is a matter of political and spiritual will.
The price of everything has gone up, from fertilizer to gasoline. People in India and China are demanding a better kind of food, including meat, which means that it takes more grain to feed the populations in those countries. The crop yield is down in Africa. There are droughts...

GoM on food prices meets on Wednesday.
Byline: Prabha Jagannathan NEW DELHI: A group of ministers (GoM) is scheduled to meet here on April 2 for considering measures to check spiralling food prices. These include duty cuts on soybean oil, reviewing the efficacy of the minimum export price imposed on premium non-basmati rice and,...

Budget 2007: Trading curbs have hit commexes & farmers alike.
Byline: Prabha Jagannathan Price control has been the biggest worry for the UPA government, which counts the Aam Aadmi as its key vote bank and is dependent on the Left parties for survival. No wonder then that finance minister P Chidambaram had on the Budget day last...

Rice exporters go to court on export curbs.
Byline: A Subramani CHENNAI: Rice exporters are taking the court route to overcome the export curbs placed by the Centre in view of foodgrains shortage in the country. While the Andhra Pradesh High Court had stayed Central notification imposing restrictions on export of non-Basmati rice...

Defence minister inaugurates Halcon air cargo complex.
NASHIK: Defence Minister AK Antony has inaugurated the Halcon Air Cargo Complex and Inland Container Depot at Nashik that will open opportunities for agricultural exports and also boost exim trade. Halcon is a joint venture between Hindustan Aeronautics and the Container Corporation of India. Agricultural and Processed...

We have no control over crude prices, says FM.
Byline: Rajeev Deshpande NEW DELHI: The finance minister P Chidambaram underlined his limitations when he said the government had no control over crude prices hovering at $108 per barrel. Besides, global food and commodity prices were also high. "If we import something, we import inflation too," Chidambaram...