As various communities celebrate harvest festival like Baishaki and Vishu on Tuesday, it can be told that the Indian monsoon will be normal. Even though the official word on the mons
The land acquisition ordinance was tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday by minister of state for parliamentary affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy. The ordinance was promulgated by President Pranab Mukherjee on
India`s northwest region which includes Delhi, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to be affected by ‘below normal’ to ‘deficient’ monsoon. The Indi
The southwest monsoon, which would be below normal this season, is likely to set over Kerala in the next 24 hours and two crucial ministries have announced plans to face the impending drought.
The government has unveiled an ambitious programme to increase agriculture sector output and efficient management of water resources. For this it will spend Rs 50,000 crore over the next five years
As the Marathwada region of Maharashtra reels under drought like conditions due to failure of monsoon, a panel constituted by state government has recommended moratorium on debt recovery and establ
Higher manufacturing output pushed India`s GDP growth to 7.4 per cent in the September quarter as compared to 7 per cent between April and June 2015. Analysts said GDP growth in Q2 was in line with
Five months of regular hard work of farmers went down the drain when heavy rainfall lashed northern India over the weekend. Unseasonal rains and hailstorm in past 36 hours (Started late on Friday a
Veteran actor, writer and filmmaker, Padma Shri Nana Patekar is known for leading a simple life. In September 2015, along with noted Marathi actor, Makarand Anaspure, he started
Standing on the dry Bindusara river in the middle of Loladgaon village, in Beed district, Maharashtra, Veersen Ghodke, a farmer, points to a well and says, “This is my bawadi [well]. It is dr
The Indian agriculture is at the verge of a revolution that will modernise the entire food chain in the country. We would not only double the farmer’s income but also increase the country&rsq
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued notices to the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh asking them to give a detailed report on the drought-hit
Several states are facing water crisis, with Maharashtra being the worst hit. Now, the technical teams of Central Water Commission and Central Ground Water Board will now study water situation in d
Fifty-two-year-old Shanti Devi from Sarkhadi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bundelkhand region walks 12 km every day to fill two earthen pots with water, that lasts for two days. Then she fetches
“The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.”
“The world has enough for everyone’s needs, but not everyone’s greed.”
One billion people will be facing severe water shortage in India and neighbouring areas by 2050 thanks to climate change and expansion of economic growth, according to a projection made by the rese
One billion people will be facing severe water shortage in India and neighbouring areas by 2050 thanks to climate change and expansion of economic growth, according to a projection made by the rese
Are you aware of the MIT study which projects acute water stress in India 35 years from now? Why wait for 35 years? Even now 11 states are facing a water eme
Are you aware of the MIT study which projects acute water stress in India 35 years from now? Why wait for 35 years? Even now 11 states are facing a water eme
Here is no water but only rock, Rock and no water and the sandy road. The road winding above among the mountains, Which are mountains of rock without water.
Here is no water but only rock, Rock and no water and the sandy road. The road winding above among the mountains, Which are mountains of rock without water.
India along with the rest of the world is facing an acute water scarcity, a crisis that is deepening with each passing year and now posing a threat to the world economy. A World Bank
India along with the rest of the world is facing an acute water scarcity, a crisis that is deepening with each passing year and now posing a threat to the world economy. A World Bank
Eleven states in the country are hit by drought this year. And, ironically, almost all states face the problem of water logging during monsoon. What if we can stop the surface run off and use this
In the second bi-monthly monetary policy statement of 2016-17, RBI governor Raghuram G Rajan on Tuesday decided to keep the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) unchanged
Bihar’s Kedia village has become the first to have a solar-powered cold storage in the state. Bought through individual donations secured via a crowd-funding campaign managed by NGO Greenpeac
At a time when the government is trying to shore up its revenues so that it can carry on its ambitious projects, a key sector that has been left out of taxation is agricultural income. Policy maker
National Agriculture Market (NAM) is a pan-India electronic trading portal which networks the existing APMC mandis to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities. T
The rapid transformation of farming and food systems to cope with a warmer world, such as adopting climate-smart practices, particularly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, is critical for hunger and
The growth story of agriculture is intact as demonetisation is found to cause small and insignificant effect on growth of output as well as farmers’ income, said a blog hosted on the Niti A
Each online agriculture wholesale market will receive Rs 75 lakh each for the development of cleaning, grading and packaging of the farmers` products. There are 250 regulated markets available on t
Both the finance minister and later the prime minister spoke about the highest priority given to the welfare of farmers in the budget related speeches in the parliament soon after the b
Farmers would no longer have to fret when the surging river water inundates their fields as scientists are working on rice varieties that are hardy and would grow in fields which have been submerge
The growth in GDP during 2016-17 is estimated at 7.1 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 7.9 per cent in 2015-16, authorities said. The Central Statistics Office (CSO), Ministr
Repair, Renovation and Restoration of existing water bodies should be given very high priority for water management particularly in drought-prone areas. In such areas, inventory of water bodies in
The footpath near Jantar Mantar, which is considered Delhi’s (and the nation’s) own protest plaza, has been seeing a demonstration that is bizarre by the usual standards of the place. F
Tamil Nadu, one of India’s largest states and home to about 67 million people, is facing a severe drought, forcing many farmers to commit suicide as their crop withers.
On February 28, 2017, Khainu (Hadu) Bagarti, a farmer from Bargarh district of Odisha, died at the Burla government hospital. Burdened by crop failure and debt, he had consumed pesticide. T
Niti Aayog is open to the idea of utilizing genetically modified (GM) seeds to help in agricultural growth. The three year action agenda of Niti Aayog says, “Genetically modif
The low level of farmers` income and year to year fluctuations in it are a major source of agrarian distress. This distress is spreading and getting severe over time impacting almost half of the
Farmers in several parts of the country are on the warpath. Under stress, they are demanding more support from the government, especially higher MSPs and a loan waiver. But after a year of normal
Just as farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and elsewhere were gathering for violent protests to press their demands, the chief economic advisor to the government of India, Arvind Subramanian,
Farm loan waivers could reduce aggregate demand by as much as 0.7 percent of GDP, imparting a significant deflationary shock to an economy yet to gain full momentum, said the Economic Survey 2016
Should the practice of paying farmers a minimum support price (MSP) for some crops be scrapped? That is what several experts have suggested. This is part of the discourse that follows the recent su
An ambitious scheme to provide Soil Health Cards for 14 crore land holdings spread across the country seems to be moving at a painfully slow pace. Prime minister Na
Results indicate that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) had a significant impact on agricultural productivity, in part by supporting diversification, said World
India is planning to establish a voluntary carbon market with World Bank assistance with focus on areas that are not covered, union minister for environment, forest and climate change, Dr. Ha
Developing resilience in agriculture to regular weather shocks in the short-term and to climate change in the medium- to long-term is one of the biggest challenges facing Indian farmers today
The union government is building robust agri-value system in collaboration with private players to transform agriculture sector from pure production system into an agri-business, said a top officia
The projection of real Gross Value Added (GVA) growth for 2017-18 has been revised down to 6.7 percent from the August 2017 projection of 7.3 percent, with risks evenly balanced, said the Res
The cabinet on Wednesday approved Special Banking Arrangement (SBA) for payment of outstanding subsidy to fertilizer companies. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by p
The burning of stubble, the cut stalks left sticking out of the ground after the grain is harvested, has largely been blamed for the smog that has enveloped north India and left people
The odd-even formula being bandied about by the Aam Aadmi Party government in Delhi may not be answer to the smog that is stifling life in the national capital. In clearly a knee-jer
A Lancet study, which comes at a time when Delhi is struggling with thick smog, has shown that air pollution is linked to weaker bones and bone fracture risk The study “Associa
Air quality in the national capital and adjoining areas has reached hazardous levels. Here are some pictures of how the city looks now.
Niti Aayog had come up with suggestions on how to tackle air pollution, much before smog smothered Delhi and its neighbouring states. However, the recommendations were not implemented.
Main hawa hoon, kahan watan mera? (I’m the wind...do I have a nation to call my own?) Thus goes a famous Urdu ghazal, written by the Indore-born Ameeq Hanafi and soulfully sung by the Hussain
Wherever you look, the red fruit can be seen growing in large patches. In fact, the red is the green in Rayalseema, the southern part of Andhra Pradesh. But tomato growers here are mostly in a dile
The government is trying to include millets in school feeding programs, said union agriculture secretary SK Patnaik. “Even the NITI Aayog has suggested that millets should be a
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has informed that “a former governor of RBI in his letter to the Chief Election Commissioner had mentioned the risk of promising loan waivers by political parties
When Bhupen Gurung from the Royal University of Bhutan told the audience at the TERI School of Advanced Studies, New Delhi, about dropping levels of poverty in Bhutan, many public policy academ
There were several announcements for farmers and the farm sector in the union budget 2018. Which among them would be most important in realising the target of doubling the farmers&rsq
A Model Contract Farming Act is now at the final stage to help farmers enter into pre-season price agreement on their produce, parliament was informed. Union minister Radha Mohan Sin
Thousands are farmers have marched into Mumbai to present a list of demands to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis – and things would not have come to such a pass if a 2006 report had been imple
The average monthly income per agricultural household from all sources is estimated to be Rs. 6,426, according to the latest “Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households” con
How did the agriculture sector go into crisis? There was distress for quite some time. The situation improved from 2004 to 2011. Since 2011 conditions have been bad for farm
Early in March, farmers of Maharashtra belonging to tribal and backward groups marched from Nashik to Mumbai under the aegis of the CPI(M)-backed Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha. They wanted to dra
As they say, nothing is impossible in the world if you have the determination and willingness to do things. China doubled its farmers’ income from 1978 to 1984. The real income increased at 1
India is looking at a twin set of developmental challenges. First is the sustainability of the rural ecosystems for local prosperity including enhancing farmer incomes. Second is the sustainable de
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu cognizance of media reports about the Maharashtra government informing the state assembly that 639 farmers had committed suicide in th
In the 1970s, Andhra Pradesh was one of the first states to be transformed by the Green Revolution. Today, another revolution is under way –
Farmers have at last forced the nation to sit up and take notice of what they are enduring. They marched to Delhi to protest. Then the assembly elections happened, and the defeat of the ruling BJ
The National Agricultural Market or e-NAM scheme was launched in April 2016 with the aim of eliminating middlemen, who make wild profits while farmers make a pittance. By trading on the online plat
Land rights structurally escape women. This is a fundamental issue in understanding why women’s work as farmers is largely invisible. However, the large-scale migration of men towards pursuin
What are 600 million people? Almost twice the population of the US. What are 500 million people? About three-fourth of the population of Europe. Why are we talking about these numbers? Well, becaus
Scheduling irrigation, constructive use of water, proper crop selection and utilising modern irrigation technologies will help enhance water security while also ensuring a high agricultural product
After the announcement of the decisions by the government for reforms in the agricultural sector for raising the income of the farmers as part of the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the p
In an attempt to revive the economy hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has decided to bet on infrastructure development in a big way. The union cabinet chaired by prime min
A civil society group has pointed out several “fallacies” in the chemicals and fertilizers ministry’s letter in response to the agriculture ministry’s draft of banning 27 de
Even as India, along with the world, continues to battle the Covid-19 pandemic, it also has to fight another menace: Locusts. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Locust Status Update of J
Bt Cotton is the first and only GM (genetically modified) crop that has been approved in India. It is now cultivated for more than 20 years -- first illegally and later approved by the government.
Congress leader and former union minister Kapil Sibal feels the media, the fourth pillar of democracy, has actually dismantled itself and is in self-destruct mode. He was in a live
The revival of the government’s reform agenda in response to the coronavirus pandemic shock has the potential to raise India’s medium-term growth rate, Fitch Ratings has said in a new a
Expressing regret over long trials of court cases in India and acknowledging that the justice delivery system in the country needs reforms, Gaurav Bhatia, BJP national spokesperson, has said that t
The committee of experts appointed by the supreme court to deliberate with the stakeholders on the new farm laws held its first meeting here Tuesday, with one of its members saying that all stakeho
As the budget session of parliament commenced on Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic as well as the farmers protests, prime minister Narendra Modi urged fellow parliamentarians to make “full
Parliament last year passed three laws relating to agriculture. They offer three basic freedoms to farmers; first, the freedom to sell the produce anywhere they like; second, the freedom to store i
India’s effective handling of the Covid-19 pandemic is not the success of an individual or a party but is the success of the nation and should be celebrated as such, prime minister Narendra M
Prime minister Narendra Modi has described the farmer protest as genuine (“pavitra”), while blaming other activists – “Andolanjeevis” – for hijacking it and givi
BJP National spokesperson Shazia Ilmi has come down heavily on critics of prime minister Narendra Modi and said that a false narrative is being set to discredit the government, belittling the PM an
The government’s recent notification to regulate digital media is an attempt to suppress all social media platforms including digital news platforms, Dr. Shama Mohamed, Congress Spokesperson,
Vishnu Jayaram Ghadse, 45, had to drop out of school and could not complete his tenth standard studies due to economic conditions. As a daily-wage labourer and paddy farmer he was able to earn Rs 6
Union Ministry of Agriculture and Microsoft India has inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a pilot project in 100 villages of six states to develop farmer inte
Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has called for the creation of a rating system for MSMEs and a Dashboard for effective monitoring of MSM
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched an e-Crop Survey across the state, to be implemented jointly by the department of revenue and agriculture and Tata Trusts from August 15.
Modernisation of the Agriculture sector will continue by infusing new technologies so that farmers can increase their income, states Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh
For those not familiar with chess nomenclature, a gambit, like king’s gambit, is move that offers a material sacrifice of a pawn or bishop, in return for a strategic advantage that may benefi
To ensure bigger access to farm produce and provide new markets with quick transportation and subsidy at 50%, the Kisan Rail has been bringing prosperity, joy, and hope to farmers of Maharashtra. O
Agriculture economist Vijay Sardana has said that middlemen have been siphoning off farmers’ interests, and the repeal of the three farm laws that were brought in to minimise the exploitation
Calling Asaduddin Owaisi, president of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, a part of BJP, Rakesh Tikait, leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union, has said that he (Owaisi) is not BJP’s team B but
Meet Promila Krishna, 39, Lalita Nayak, 40, Parbati Gadba, 42, Sanadei Dhuruwa, 39, and Nabita Barika, 41, of Kundra block in Odisha’s Koraput district. Except for Promila who is a matriculat
A series of pre-launch events and initiatives have been organised by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on the MyGov platform in the run-up to the International Year of Millets 2023
The ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare has released the third Advance Estimates of the area and production of various horticultural crops for 2021-22. A record 342.33 million tonnes are es
The exports of agricultural and processed food products rose by 16 percent in the eight-month period of April-November of the current financial year, in comparison to the corresponding period of FY
Former World Health Organisation (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan takes charge as chairperson of M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) from February 1. Founded by
The foodgrain production of 3305.34 lakh tonnes is estimated in the current agricultural year 2022-23 – higher by 149.18 LMT as compared to the previous year, according to the Third Advance E
The skyrocketing prices of tomato are expected to come down with the increase in arrival of new crop from Nasik, Naryangoan and Aurangabad belt in Maharashtra and also from Madhya Pradesh, the gove
Rs 5654.625 crore has been transferred to PM-Kisan beneficiaries during 2022-23 in Maharashtra, Union agriculture and farmers’ welfare minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on Tuesday.
Regulating Agricultural Markets in India: A Smallholder Perspective By Sukhpal Singh
Hailing the Maharashtra government for introducing a bill to amend the Insecticide Act, 1968, Pesticide Action Network (PAN) India has called the amendments ‘very focussed’ and ur
Nano Diammonium Phosphate, or Nano-DAP, is a revolutionary agricultural input that holds immense potential for transforming farming practices across varied agro-climatic zones in India. This innova
