-Scroll.in The minimum support price of Rs 5,050 per quintal barely covers the input cost, yet the going market rate is just about Rs. 4,500. Sudhakar Patil, 65, is a farmer in Bhayar Chincholi village in Maharashtra’s Osmanabad district. He cultivates a mix of tur, urad and moong on his 11-acre farm in the kharif season and chana and wheat in winter. In a good year, when there’s water in the...

-The Telegraph Bhopal: The turbaned, white-haired, kurta-dhoti-wearing "Tauji" figures are there too, but one outstanding feature of the current farmer agitation in Madhya Pradesh are its jeans-clad, smartphone-wielding spearheads. If the veteran "Kakkaji" Shiv Kumar Sharma is the public face of the movement, which lacks a central leadership, much of the spadework is being done by a band of young, bilingual, stats-savvy and largely apolitical agriculture graduates. Their leader Kedar Sirohi, who is...

-The Indian Express A smooth GST regime can break inter-state barriers on movement and facilitate direct linkages between processors and farmers After more than a decade of intense discussion and debate, the GST is finally becoming a reality. Although in its current form, it is not as perfect as was originally envisaged, yet it is being lauded as one of the most transformational reforms since 1991. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was humble...

-The Hindu Business Line While the idea is reasonable, the issue is so political that it will automatically ring in negative points for the implementer The subject of taxation on farm income has once again taken centre stage not just because there have been some distinguished opinions voiced on this subject but also that this has been recognised as one area where money is channelled to avoid paying taxes. As the focus...

-The Indian Express State agriculture minister Gaurishankar Bisen made purported statement in closed-door govt meet Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Agriculture Minister Gaurishankar Bisen has reportedly said in a closed-door government meeting that 90 per cent of the wheat procured for distribution in his state through the PDS system is diverted illegally. The statement attributed to Bisen, who refused to elaborate on it later, comes at a time when there is talk about...