''For the country as a whole, cumulative rainfall during this year's monsoon (June- September) has so far been 43% below the Long Period Average (LPA). The good thing is however, monsoon is possibly recovering in the first few days of July and it seems that the prospects of a full blown El Nino may fizzle out. If this is the case, then the prospects of drought may reduce significantly,'' Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic adviser, Economic Research Department, State Bank of India.

''Meanwhile, the increase in food prices continues to be an enigma for the government. Our analysis however shows there is a huge gap between availability and consumption of cereals, fruits and vegetables, milk, sugar and edible oils in the country,'' Ghosh added.

Hence, it is perplexing how food prices rise! Nevertheless, we propose a four pronged strategy to deal with food inflation:

1. Effectively implement our delivery mechanisms to plug PDS leakages through involvement of Gram Panchayats, Self Help Groups, Van Suraksha Samitis and other community institutions in the running of fair price shops.

2. Replicating Delivery mechanisms, ash transfers such as Brazil’s Bolsa Família and Mexico's Oportunidades to cover millions of households in India.

3. Replicating Gujarat Government initiative on Soil Health Cards (soil data of 2 lakh farmers across 18,000 villages were initially collected for this purpose) involving Scientists & Extensions advising crop improvement based on soil data and existing knowledge. In addition, the Government can also launch a bi-annual Krishi Mahotsav (synchronizing with Rabi and Kharif) along the line of Gujarat Government where all institutions are pulled under one platform to maximize farmer outreach.

4. Offload food grain stocks directly into the market instead of routing it through PDS.