-The Economic Times Chandigarh: The ongoing procurement of mustard at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 4,000 per quintal in Haryana is hurtled by a lack in the number of collection centres. Farmers are selling the produce to traders at Rs 3,700-3,800 per quintal in the state as the logistic costs are too high to reach the collection centres in many districts in the state. Most of the farmers have sold...

-The Hindu Use OTPs only in the presence of customers: UIDAI The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asked banks to provide Aadhaar-based onetime password (OTP) for opening of bank accounts only in the presence of the customer, in a banking outlet. In a letter addressed to commercial banks, UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey cited instances of misuse of Aadhaar while opening accounts. The direction is a huge blow to the...

-IANS Farmer suicides have been taking place across India for years now, and studies of rural distress reveal the deeply-rooted, tenacious causes, such as lack of irrigation, fragmentation of land, unsuitability of seeds and inadequate sources of credit. Despite the democratically-elected governments that claim to represent a country where over half the population is dependent on farming, agriculture has been consistently ignored at a steep cost to farmers' lives. Remedies have been...

  Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) or cash transfer might appear attractive on papers, but in reality it is opposed by its beneficiaries when implemented. Something similar to this has happened in the Nagri block of Ranchi district, where cash is being transferred to the aadhaar seeded bank accounts of beneficiaries in lieu of providing subsidized foodgrains. Cash transfers in the public distribution system (PDS) have been in operation in the Nagri block...

-The Indian Express Price deficiency payment schemes in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana do not cover farmers’ losses. Telangana’s input support scheme deserves nation-wide emulation. Farm distress is likely to be one of the major focal points of the upcoming Union Budget. Agri-GDP growth has fallen to around 2 per cent per annum in the first four years of the Modi government; the real incomes of farmers have fallen as well. The growth...