-The Financial Express The government’s move to roll out the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from the ongoing kharif season has got a boost with 18 agriculturally critical states, including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Maharashtra, having floated tenders to identify insurers who will offer the scheme to farmers. According to agriculture ministry data, Rajasthan has completed the bidding process for identifying insurance companies...

-Deccan Herald Buoyed by the incentives announced by the government, farmers appear to have taken up cultivation of pulses in a big way this year. New Delhi: According to the data released by the Agriculture Ministry, pulses acreage has increased 39% as compared to the same period last year. Sowing of coarse cereals and oil seeds has also increased but acreage of sugar cane and cotton has declined. The area under pulses cultivation was...

-Livemint.com Pulses have been sown in an area of 9 million hectares, substantially higher than the 6.5 million hectares planted by this time last year New Delhi: Bountiful rains across the country have boosted sowing of pulses and the area under different varieties is nearly 40% more than last year, shows data released by the agriculture ministry on Friday. So far pulses have been sown in an area of 9 million hectares,...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Farmers in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat are planting pulses this kharif season, largely urad, arhar and moong because of better prices and concerns of cotton crop failure in North West India, while in Gujarat it was delay in monsoon rains, say farmers. The area under pulses rose to 26.9% from the past week and 39.39% over the previous year in the same period to 90.17 lakh...

-Down to Earth Severe dry spells in Indian forests have hit the livelihood of more than 100 million people. But India simply does not acknowledge this drought For more than five months, residents of Jabarra village have been foraging the forests for minor forest produce (MFP). The forest in Chhattisgarh’s Dhamtari district is abundant with more than 200 types of forest produce and the district is known as Asia’s biggest trading...