During the fiscal year 2023–24, the Union government launched a scheme to sell food at subsidised rates under the Bharat brand. Bharat Chana was introduced in July 2023, Bharat Atta in November 2023, and Bharat Rice in February 2024. Under this scheme, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) buys cereals from farmers and sells them to the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) and the National Co-operative Consumers’ Federation of India (NCCF). The Nafed and NCCF then directly sell Bharat brand products to the general public through retail stores, mobile vans, and e-commerce platforms such as Amazon and BigBasket. These products are priced lower than the market price. For example, Bharat Atta is sold at Rs 27.5 per...
More Comments are closed
Articles
Rationalise regulations for e-commerce
When the Government expects foreign companies to do almost everything that a retailer does, how can it deny these firms the right to sell? Way back in 2019, Delhi Vyapar Mahasangh (DVM) an organisation of retail traders in the national capital had lodged a complaint with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) alleging anti-competitive behaviour by Amazon Seller Services (ASS) and Flipkart Internet Private Limited (FIPL). The CCI is an authority established under the Competition Act, of 2002. The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates mergers, amalgamations acquisitions etc to ensure that there is no adverse effect on competition. Amazon and Flipkart are global giants operating e-commerce marketplaces in India through their subsidiaries,...
More Comments are closed
Plug leakages in fertiliser subsidy
The real reason behind the leakage is control of the MRP at an artificially low level. Dubious players have a huge incentive to divert and rake in the moolah As part of the 100-day agenda of Modi 3.0, the Government intends to administer fertiliser subsidies more effectively and cut down on leakages and diversions to build on the success of neem-coated urea. It intends to conduct a pilot in a few districts on a modified version of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) that seeks to establish a linkage between the land holding of a farmer and nutrient consumption. A proposal in this regard mooted in 2020 is being resurrected. To make urea – a widely used fertiliser that supplies primary...
More Comments are closed
With power freebies, debt comes calling
The core dilemma persists: How to prevent debt while ensuring universal electricity access? This issue entails policy intricacies and power sector reforms In an interview, Union Power Minister RK Singh revealed he has been telling States that electricity is not free. “If any State wants to give free power to any category of people, they can go ahead and do so, but you have to pay for it”. Singh’s exhortation to the States assumes significance in the backdrop of a spate of announcements by the latter to give free electricity to certain consumers which affect the viability of power distribution companies or discoms (they buy power from generating companies or gencos and supply to the consumers). He argues “like any...
More Comments are closed
A clause that doesn’t buy peace
The 13th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation held in Abu Dhabi in February 2024 ended in a deadlock. However, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal, who led the Indian delegation, was “completely satisfied.” On the contentious issue of finding a permanent solution to India’s public stock-holding (PSH) programme for food security, he was alluding to the so-called ‘peace clause’ sanctioned at the 9th MC held in Bali (2013), and that arrangement stays. Does it help? Under the PSH programme, government agencies, such as the Food Corporation of India (FCI), buy agricultural produce such as wheat, rice/paddy, and coarse cereals from farmers at the minimum support price (MSP) and give it free to India’s poor under...
More Comments are closed
Income inequalities hamper sustainable growth
While the nation’s GDP is poised to surge by 7.6 per cent in the current financial year, concerns loom large over the sluggish pace of private consumption During the current financial year, the Indian economy is expected to register a growth of 7.6 per cent in real gross domestic product or GDP. Coming on top of growth of 9.1 per cent during 2021-22 and 7.2 per cent during 2022-23, India’s performance is spectacular. Emboldened by this trend and Modi’s commitment to pursue economic reforms with greater vigour during its third term, analysts are hoping for growth of above 7 per cent on a sustainable basis. But, there is a catch. Private consumption which accounts for as much as 55 per...
More Comments are closed
RBI maintains status quo despite inflation optimism
RBI’s commitment to ‘last-mile disinflation’ has prompted a continued tight monetary policy stance, raising questions about its impact on economic growth On April 5, 2024, announcing the decisions taken by the six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its first bi-monthly meeting of the current financial year (FY), Governor Shaktikanta Das observed “The elephant has now gone out for a walk and appears to be returning to the forest. We would like the elephant to return to the forest and remain there on a durable basis,” Das was using the elephant analogy to characterise the trajectory of retail inflation as represented by the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Having scaled to a high of 7.8 per cent in April 2022, CPI has...
More Comments are closed
Address the root cause to stabilise food prices
The Bharat brand scheme aims to stabilise prices for consumers and ensure fair compensation to farmers. However, its impact will be limited due to State laws Last year in July, the Union Government launched a Scheme of selling chana dal at a subsidised rate under the Bharat brand call it Bharat Chana. This was followed by launch of Bharat Atta in November 2023 and Bharat Rice in February 2024, Under the Scheme, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) – a central agency whose prime responsibility is to procure, store and distribute food grains to meet the needs of beneficiaries covered under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) – buys the cereals from the farmers and sells to the National Agricultural...
More Comments are closed
Sustainable agriculture with nano-fertilisers
As India gears up to ramp up production of nano-fertilisers, questions arise regarding the technical feasibility and logistical implications of transition Recently, the Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh Mandaviya stated “Consumption of urea this fiscal is likely to be 8 percent less than in FY 2022-23 due to the use of its liquid nano variant. Because of this and higher domestic production, import of urea, the soil nutrient that accounts for 70 per cent of the fertiliser subsidy bill, declined more than a fifth on year in 2023. Further spread of nano urea consumption and the start of a new large urea plant (Talcher in Odisha) by September 2023 would lead to elimination of imports in two-three years”....
More Comments are closed
Debunking claims of fiscal discrimination
Opposition-ruled States, especially southern States, have raised concerns about discriminatory treatment in the current system of fiscal resource sharing between the Centre and the States Various Opposition-ruled States especially from south India have complained of ‘discrimination’ and ‘unfair’ treatment under the present scheme of sharing financial resources between the Union Government and the States. Article 270 of the Constitution provides for the sharing of net tax proceeds collected by the Union government with the States. The taxes that are shared include corporation tax, personal income tax, Central GST (Goods and Services Tax) of CGST, the Centre’s share of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST), CED on petroleum products excluding the cess and surcharge levied by the Centre etc. All...
More Comments are closed