-The Tribune Faridkot (Punjab): The Union Budget neglecting the organic Farmers in Punjab and allocating Rs 100 crore for its development in the North Eastern states has left many organic Farmers in the state despondent. To save fast-depleting table of ground water and avoid excessive use of pesticides and chemicals in agriculture in Punjab, the organic Farmers in the state were expecting subsidy on the pattern of chemical based agriculture to give...

-The Business Standard Easing of APMC regime, farmer-consumer contact, other proposals seen as positives To ease supply-side constraints on food articles, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed several measures to help improve marketing and storage of produce. Taking cues from the Bhartiya Janata Party's election manifesto, he has proposed integrating markets across the country, with the Centre to work closely with states to reorient the latter's respective Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Acts,...

-The Tribune Chandigarh: There is nothing much for Punjab in the Union Budget. In fact, it has left important issues pertaining to state's fiscal health and economy untouched. As far as Punjab is concerned, the Union Budget is disappointing," said eminent economist Sucha Singh Gill. The Budget has left state's debt issue untouched. When Pranab Mukherjee was the Finance Minister, he had proposed to set up a special committee at the Union Government...

-The Times of India   AMRITSAR: The first budget presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has deflated the expectations of Farmers who were looking for 'achhe din' ahead. With a major chunk of Farmers reeling under debt, famers and their leaders were disappointed on finding that the finance minister's speech was silent on measures to address the crucial issue of farmer suicides. "In Punjab, the state government's official figures put the Farmers'...

-The Times of India   NAGPUR: Several new components like stress on irrigation in dry-land areas, price stabilization fund, bringing landless Farmers in pale of institutional finance through NABARD for working on leased lands, allowing MGNREGA in farm work have won bouquets for finance minister Arun Jaitley from farm activists. "Move to set up a national market for farm produce, micro irrigation and watershed schemes in drought-prone regions, crop loan facilities to landless...