A Week back, the rising temperatures in the state had the farmers worried about sowing of kharif crop. Even horticulturists, especially apple and mango growers, were under immense stress over fruit size. But the moderate rainfall that has intermittently continued all over the state during the past three days has ended all their worries. Apple growers in Shimla, who have already suffered a loss of nearly 40 per cent due to a hail storm in April, have been relieved by the rain.

The government's decision to suspend futures trading in four more agri commodities has come under fire from the committee which studied the impact of trading of essential items on their prices but found no conclusive evidence. The committee's chairperson and members today expressed their disappointment calling the decision "irrational". "It is obvious that the government has taken a decision without taking our view into consideration. There is a bit of overreaction," chairman of the committee and Planning Commission member Abhijit Sen told Business Standard.

Baltimore: Carolyn Stanley, a single mother with five children, receives $327 in food stamps each month to feed her family. With prices for staples like bread and cheese going ever higher, each month is harder than the last. She buys hot dogs over higher-quality meat and feeds her kids cereal, but even with other government support she often has to seek help from local churches and from friends. "The food runs out somewhere within the middle of the month, or getting close to the end,' said Stanley, 49. "It is not easy. I pray.'

At your local kirana store, the middle income upwardly mobile Indian can be found buying branded atta which he proudly takes home and also a kilo of jwar and makka which he buys daily to feed the pigeons in his neighbourhood locality square. A mile away in a squatters colony, under a plastic shed a family of 5 also buys 1 kilo of makka daily to feed their hungry stomachs.

The farmers of the State are not availing full benefits of their hard work. There remains a big difference between the prices of foodgrains produced by them and the being sold in the markets. Middle men are enjoying the farmers' hard labour. According to a report, sharbati wheat was sold Rs 2200-2500 a quintal in Ratlam but did the farmers reap the profits of this sale. It is also a matter of consideration that if quality crops are produced then the farmers would benefit. Earlier, sharbati wheat was produced in the Bhopal division and adjoining places.

Fighting hike in food rates, the government may continue the ban on futures trading on four agricultural commodities

As against scathing attack hurled at Government by the opposition political parties as well as the left allies over galloping inflation in the country, the ruling party at the Centre does not find enough reasons to be so much worried since the weather forecast of meteorological department suggests a near-normal monsoon in the current year that could lead to increased farm production in 2008-09 successively after good harvest of the previous fiscal.

India is considering a blanket ban on trading in food futures, highlighting growing concerns in Asia over the role of hedge funds and financial market traders in the recent surge in commodities prices. An emergency move by India to shut down its food futures market, proposed on Monday by P Chidambaram, the finance minister, would reverse measures introduced only five years ago to aid the development of India as a financial centre.

Let's be logical and not emotional about food. From ill-informed outsiders' point of view, it seems reasonable to blame rising prices on fast-growing demand in India and China. After all, these two facts are known: prices are rising globally, and the two Asian giants are the world's fastest growing economies. Plus, every school kid knows that prices go up if demand outpaces supply. Food, everyone knows, grows slowly. Presto!

The creditable performance of the Indian agricultural sector in three successive seasons ending 2007-08 has taken the output of food crops to 227.3 million tonnes from 208.6 million tonnes in 2005-06. The yield of fine cereals, particularly wheat, has improved dramatically as out of the increase of 18.7 million tonnes in total food output, fine cereals alone account for 11.3 million tonnes