First it was LPG prices. Now it's the minimum support price (MSP). Instead of rooting for economic reforms, the A.B. Vajpayee Government seems to be sowing new seeds of populism. Despite objections from within the Government, the MSP-the minimum price at which the Government buys from farmers-for wheat has been increased yet again by Rs 10 to Rs 620 per quintal. This is contrary to the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices on freezing the MSP for wheat, so as to encourage the production of cash crops like rapeseed, mustard, sunflower and masoor which are being imported. That is why the MSP of crops other than wheat and paddy has been raised by Rs 100 to Rs 1,300, as recommended.

The populist measure has deeper implications. The Government pays a high price to procure foodstock that nobody is interested in buying. The attractive purchase price ensures that instead of diversifying, farmers continue to produce crops that are already in oversupply-Government granaries are overflowing with 58 million tonnes of foodstock. Even as support prices have risen, sale proceeds have been low. Today, the Food Corporation of India buys wheat at Rs 8.39 a kg and sells it at Rs 5 a kg. As a result, the food subsidy bill has ballooned from Rs 2,850 crore in 1992-93 to Rs 13,670 crore in 2001-2.

By not standing by the expert committee recommendation, the Government has displayed its inability to carry out bigger and bolder economic reforms.

-Malini Goyal

GOLDEN PUMPKIN

SAD SONG: Asha threatened to emigrate

It's a classic case of the NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) syndrome. Eco-consciousness and civic amenities are all right, just as long as they don't intrude into the comfort zone of Prabhukunj, the posh Peddar Road building in Mumbai where singing sisters Lata Mangeshkar and Asha Bhosle live. The road sees nearly one lakh vehicles a day, moving at a snail's pace. A flyover is believed to be the only solution. But Asha threatened to leave the city, even move out to another country, if a flyover comes up. Lata petitioned the chief minister citing an increase in pollution and a decrease in privacy, brushing aside city planners' explanation that pollution actually drops when vehicle speeds increase. Moreover, fans aren't likely to park cars on the flyover to gawk into their home.

The Congress-NCP state Government says it is committed to building the structure. Bhosle, meanwhile, has retracted her statement and says that she intends to stay put in the city. But she isn't crooning Accha ji main haari ... just yet.

SIGNPOSTS

APPOINTED: Sikander Bakht, BJP leader, governor of Kerala.

AWARDED: The Nehru Literacy Award, to N.K. Ambasht, chairman, National Open School, Delhi.

APPOINTED: P.L. Sanjeeva Reddy, director of the Indian Institute of Public Administration. He is a retired IAS officer.

RE-ELECTED: A.B. Bardhan, as general secretary of the CPI at the party's Congress in Thiruvananthapuram.

APOLOGISED: Akali leader S.S. Mann, for his grandfather Aroor Singh's honouring of Brigadier General R.E. Dyer, the man behind the Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in 1919.

DIED: K.V. Narayanaswamy, 78, Carnatic vocalist, in Chennai.

DIED: Motoru Udayam, 78, CPI(M) leader and a champion of women's causes, in Vijayawada.