What are the challenges in reaching finance to the poorest in the economy? As per the report on ‘Performance evaluation of targeted public distribution system’ by the Planning Commission in 2005, for one rupee worth of income transfer to the poor, Government of India spends Rs 3.65. This is the average cost. The cost of reaching a poorest man in the remote tribal areas could be even higher: at almost as high as Rs 6. It means that one rupee of budgetary consumer subsidy is worth only 27 paise to 13.5 paise to the poor. No doubt it is partly due to the inefficiency of the system. Yet one has to realise that the organised sector and the government administrative machinery cannot effectively reach the poverty groups at low cost.

While agricultural technology is scale-neutral, profitability favours those who have the capacity to hold the stocks and sell at high prices, reduce the cost of production and forge market tie-ups, probably in commercial crops. And mainly they contribute to the agricultural growth. Thus observes Swarna S. Vepa, author of ‘Bearing the Brunt: Impact of Rural Distress on Women’ (Sage). She rues that the debt burden of the poor is increasing. “The debt asset ratio of the poor is 20 per cent as against that of 2 per cent for the rich. We find pauperisation of the farming community due to high cost of inputs including seeds, highly volatile prices, fluctuating yields and low profitability.” D. Murali TH 120809

2. Food subsidy may top Rs 60,000 cr this fiscal: Pawar :

Food and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today said the government's food subsidy bill may rise by about 38 per cent to exceed Rs 60,000 crore this fiscal and asked some states to review taxes on the purchase of foodgrains by central agencies in their."

The food subsidy stood at Rs 43,627 crore in the 2008-09 fiscal.In this context, Pawar asked Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh to reduce high taxes imposed by them on the purchase of foodgrains by central agencies in such states. PTI 190809

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced PMEGP on August 15 2008. The programme was formed after merging the existing schemes of Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana and Rural Employment Generation Programme, with an aim to generate 37 lakh jobs by the end of 2011-12. But the guidelines were issued after a delay of one month on September 20, shortening the already short time to achieve the yearly target.

As per the guidelines, the government provides 15-35% of the project cost as subsidy, while the project developer has to contribute 5-10% from his own pocket.

The government had set a target of part-financing 61,227 projects and generating 6,12,245 jobs in 600-odd districts of the country during 2008-09.

India is losing food items worth a whopping Rs 50,000 crore every year due to poor post-harvest handling of farm produce, a development that analysts say may jeopardise the Centre's plan to formulate a food security law, especially in view of a "below-normal" monsoon.

"The level of wastage of agricultural food items is estimated to be about Rs 50,000 crore (a year), occurring at various stages of handling after harvesting," Food Processing Minister said. The minister blamed "fragmented farming, provisions in the Agricultural Produce Marketing (Development & Regulation) Act, lack of cold chain facilities, transportation, proper storage and processing facilities" for the losses. Th 270709

Improved post-harvest technologies especially storage and transportation facilities are a must for a nation that’s the world’s second largest producer of fruits and vegetables and where the horticulture sector contributes to 7 per cent of the GDP. But, given the inadequacy of cold chain and storage infrastructure, public policy has to make some practical concessions to a critical sector of the economy. Electricity, for instance, is the lifeline of cold storage. Movement of goods also demands good roads and highways.

Top 100 tax defaulters owed to the exchequer a whopping Rs 1.41 lakh crore. While SBI owes Rs 333.6 crore in taxes, Tata Motors and Indian Oil Corporation have to pay Rs 206.5 crore and Rs 210.3 crore, respectively. Among leading public sector undertakings, BSNL has an outstanding tax liability of about Rs 2,417 crore and NTPC of Rs 622 crore. VSNL Ltd (now Tata Communications Ltd) has Rs 505.5 crore due. Besides, companies that owe taxes to the government are Coca Cola India (Rs 600 crore), Baron International (Rs 589 crore), Oracle Corporation (Rs 558 crore), Rolex Holding Ltd (Rs 558 crore), Aaditya Luxury Hotels (564 crore) and Reliance Energy (Rs 176 crore).

Consumer spending patterns are witnessing mega-shifts, with implications for all involved parties. India will see a spending of almost Rs 21 lakh crore (about $435 billion) at current prices in 2009 (assuming a GDP growth rate of 6 per cent). Further, factoring in a 5 per cent inflation and assuming that GDP will further grow at 6 per cent, the consumer spending is likely to cross Rs 23 lakh crore (about $485 billion) in 2010. For as long as we remember, roti, kapda aur makaan have been the primary needs and drivers of private consumption. Indeed, it seems that the impact of the sustained economic growth of the last 18-20 years is that for a very large part of the population, consumption has moved beyond the basic survival needs. The sectors that are likely to create the most jobs (besides retail since most of this consumption will be facilitated through modern brick & mortar retail channels) are healthcare, telecom, travel & leisure, education & training, media & entertainment, personal grooming and fitness etc. The spending pattern is given below. Arvind Singhal, B S 130809

Over 2.64 lakh students, who have gone abroad for studies, are spending approximately $5.5 billion (about Rs 27,000 crore) every year, the Lok Sabha was informed.As per the information made available, out of 264,324 students gone abroad, maximum of 104,522 are in the US followed by over 97,000 in Australia, 25,905 in the UK and over 6,040 in New Zealand. PTI 160709