In its 2014 election manifesto, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), among other things, promised to "take steps to enhance the profitability in agriculture, by ensuring a minimum of 50% profits over the cost of production". In his 2018-19 Union budget speech too, the Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley informed the Parliament that the 2014 election manifesto of the BJP had stated that the farmers should get at least 1.5 times the...

-Hindustan Times Loan waiver provides strong disincentive for those who repaid loan on time and perverse incentive for default. But the most serious effect of the waiver is potential risk of fiscal slippage . India’s agricultural economy witnessed significant changes during the post reforms period, many of which were positive, but some were negative. Income of farmers could not keep pace with their aspirations and fast growth in the income of non-farm...

-TheWire.in Perhaps we can visualise a farmers’ march 20 years from now, with one more demand: resettlement, for lands and homes they have lost to the vagaries of a shifting climate. A few years ago, a group of us from Delhi, along with members of the Gujarat Agricultural Labour Union and the International Union of Foodworkers, went to eastern Gujarat to speak to farmers about how a changing climate could be affecting...

-Scroll.in The ministry has issued showcause notices to three of its senior officials for submitting the report before Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal could vet it. The Ministry of Agriculture has withdrawn a report that said demonetisation affected millions of farmers in the country. The ministry cited a “compilation error” to justify the withdrawal and submitted a new report that says farmers did not face any “adverse impact” as a result of the...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru/ Ahmedabad: After languishing for almost two years, the prices of pulses such as tur/arhar and urad have rebounded over the past few weeks as production has been impacted by scanty rains in the key growing regions of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. Over the past two-three weeks, the prices of tur, moong, gram and urad have risen by 10-20 per cent in various markets such...