-The Times of India Sometimes it's pricey onions driving consumers to tears, at other times, potatoes or pulses. But this summer is different. A triple whammy of scorching tomato and potato prices, alongside pulses — arhar and urad — has wrecked family budgets. In the last two years, arhar prices have doubled while those of urad have increased by around 120%. Even Gram (chana dal), which is produced in large quantities and...
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Maharashtra: Doubts loom over bank loans, may hit over three lakh farmers -Partha Sarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express The Maharashtra Gramin Bank has written to the district collectors of eight districts expressing inability to disburse crop loans for the upcoming kharif season. Mumbai: The prediction of a good monsoon may not be enough to bring cheers to farmers of Marathwada, as questions are being raised over disbursement of crop loans in the region. The Maharashtra Gramin Bank has written to the district collectors of eight districts...
More »Feeling the pulse
-The Indian Express In 2015-16, India imported a record 5.79 million tonnes (mt) of pulses valued at $ 3.9 billion, with these being even higher at 15.57 mt ($ 10.49 billion) in the case of edible oils. The Narendra Modi government has done well to hike the minimum support prices (MSP) of pulses to be grown this kharif season by 7.7-9.2 per cent, over and above the 5.4-6.3 per cent last...
More »Flaws in many rural development plans -Sanjeeb Mukherjee
-Business Standard Official panel points to bid deficiencies in rural job guarantee, pensions, housing and other proGrammes Wage payment delays are a distressing feature of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), an official panel says. This has to be adequately addressed, by the Centre and states, to keep the proGramme’s spirit alive, it has said. It and some other findings of concern are the result of a multi-state Common Review...
More »Citizens have right to safe water, say draft legislation -Jacob Koshy
-The Hindu ‘Groundwater will not be a free resource’ New Delhi: The government has for the first time said that citizens had a right to safe water and laid out stringent rules on how corporations and large entities can extract groundwater in two separate pieces of draft legislation uploaded on the website of the Union Water Ministry and open for public comment. The Bills —in a first — also propose fines ranging from...
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