-The Hindu Business Line The Government should honour its MSP promise and lift trade curbs The Government move to impose an import duty of 10 per cent on wheat and tur is a timely one. With a bumper harvest likely in wheat this year, market prices have dropped below MSP. Apart from estimates of higher arrivals in mandis, higher imports in recent months too have hit prices. In January alone, 1.13 million...

-TheWire.in The corporate sector is responsible for 70% of the country’s NPAs, but their loans are being waived off while waiving farming loans is still being frowned upon. The Gujarat government gave a loan of Rs 456.79 crore to the Tatas to set up the Nano plant at Sanand, near Ahmedabad. The Gujarat government has acknowledged that the massive loan was given at an interest of 0.1%, to be paid back in...

-The Indian Express A new 125-day rice variety promises to provide some respite to Punjab Farmers, depleting aquifers Ludhiana: A new variety maturing within 125 days, yet yielding nearly as much as those now grown over 135-160 days, could provide the ultimate solution to Punjab’s woes stemming from farming of water-guzzling paddy. Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has released a paddy variety PR-126 that gives an average of 30 quintals per acre. This is...

-Livemint.com In the case of repeated farm loan waivers, it makes sense for borrowers to default strategically Hope: The Narendra Modi government says it wants to double farm income by 2022 through the transformation of Indian agriculture. Reality: The political discourse continues to focus perversely on farm loan waivers. Here are some recent instances. The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is considering a farm loan waiver as promised in its election...

-Firstpost.com Putting state governments that promised loan waivers for farmers in difficulty, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday ruled out such waivers by the Centre insisting states can utilise their own resources in this regard. He clarified that the Centre will not adopt a selective approach by helping one state and not the others. The move is likely to put even BJP governments, including Devendra Fadnavis administration in Maharashtra and the newly...