Social activist Anna Hazare on Wednesday took the fight against land acquisition bill to the parliament by holding farmers rally near parliament building. Addressing the rally he ask
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
Prices of pulses have been under stress and the food has remained high due to expensive pulses. To bring down prices of pulses and incentivise farmers the government has approved an increase in MSP
Bad news is good news; media revel in news of crisis and catastrophe. No news is bad news; some space has to be filled with news if anyone is going to look at accompanying views and ads. But if the
The story goes like this: A bunch of news photographers had pooled resources and hired a taxi for an assignment in rural West Bengal. The taxi driver – a sardar – pulled over in a deser
The countdown to the 2016 assembly elections began in Tamil Nadu with the byelection to RK Nagar, where chief minister J Jayalalithaa contested and won with a huge margin. The impending assembly el
The Maharashtra government has introduced a `drought surcharge` on a host of items ranging from fuel and liquor to cigarettes and jewellery to raise Rs 1,600 crore. The new taxes came into effect f
Imagine two onion farmers from Hissar district of Haryana. One goes to sell his produce in a mandi in Delhi and the other in a Haryana mandi. Though they have the same quality and quantity, the far
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
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
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
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
We need to find out a way for incorporating farmers into the industrial sector, said Nandan Nilekani, at a talk show hosted by NDTV on Sunday. He was responding to a query from a student who wanted
The implementation of the crop insurance scheme in the country is crucial as there has been a steady rise in the suicide of farmers. Currently, 20 percent of the farmers and 23 percent of tot
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
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
The government is mulling an insurance scheme for livestock in which farmers’ share of premium would also be in the range of one to two percent per annum per animal, while the centre and the
It was a major victory for the country’s farmers when the supreme court (SC) quashed the acquisition of land in Singur for Tata Motor Limited’s Nano car project. The judgment took a s
Now that the SC has given the judgment for returning the land of the farmers in Singu
Gopalbhai Patel, a 51-year-old farmer of Bagthala village in Rajkot district of Gujarat, has always looked at the skies in monsoon, wishing it to rain copiously so that he can grow his crop
Enhancing domestic productivity and production rapidly and sustainably is the only reliable way of minimising volatility in prices of pulses, and safeguarding the interests of farmers and also cons
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 supreme court has asked Karnataka to release 2,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu every day till further orders. However, farmers living near Cauvery delta region are worried as their li
People who fear that genetically engineered crops are not healthy or will harm them in some way are either misguided or mischievous,” says Deepak Pental, rearranging a pile of research pape
If the GE mustard hybrid was developed in 2002, why has the environment ministry not taken a decision on it yet? Nobody had the guts to release it, and till today,
Will the release of GE mustard reduce oilseed imports? Saying that GE mustard will slash the oil import bill is just baloney. Farmers are not able to make money from the
Chances are you have already chosen which side of the fence you are on when it comes to the demonetisation debate. Demonetising 86% of the currency is an unprecedented step and India is flying by t
In agriculture, neem oil, fruit and the different byproducts such as seed cake are used as bio-pesticides, fungicides and organic manures. Neem is decomposed slowly, leading to a slower release of
Despite being the most crucial and significant section of the society, farmers are feeling neglected by the policy makers, said the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). The right
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
The Narendra Modi- Arvind Kejriwal antagonism has always been about two different kinds of populism. While it may not play out in a municipal election, the fact remains that a Kejriwal chastened
Tamil Nadu farmers have criticized an agitation at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, which is being led by Ponnuchamy Ayyakkannu from Trichy district. The agitation had grabbed
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.
The cooperative banks, largely controlled by politicians, are today groaning under the weight of its own contraindication – it is flush with funds following demonetisation, yet it suffers fro
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
The tax net needs to be expanded and the rich farmers must pay up their taxes. This week saw quite a bit of going back and forth over this prickly issue after Niti Aayog member
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
There are different arguments for the farmers’ agitation which first caught Maharashtra in its octopus grip and then spread to Madhya Pradesh where six people were killed in police firing. Un
Remunerative prices must be paid to farmers of Madhya Pradesh, said Medha Patkar of National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), Yogendra Yadav of Swaraj Abhiyan, Kisan Sangharsh Sami
The government has decided to launch the Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) for fertiliser subsidies on January 1, 2018. After oil and food, fertilisers account for the third-biggest sh
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
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the Madhya Pradesh government after a group of farmers returning from a protest against anti-farmer policies were allegedly forced
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
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
A significant portion of the budget pie on Thursday went to the farm sector. Union minister Arun Jaitley, who presented the union budget 2018-19, said the effort was to particularly
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
Farmers need higher returns for their produce to experience increased farm income. The government has continuously promised farmers at least 50 percent higher returns than the cost of their p
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 Maharashtra government has offered a six-month long roadmap to address the agrarian crisis in the state after thousands of farmers staged a massive rally in Mumbai to protest government’s
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
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 ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare had recently organised a seminar, ‘Agriculture 2022: Doubling Farmers Income’, where over 300 top minds from the government, academia,
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
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
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
UNDP India’s Accelerator Lab and Spices Board India under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (Mo
The Union Cabinet has given its approval to launch a new Mission on Oil palm to be known as the Nat
