-FirstPost.com Travelling across the country for the past five months to bring farmers’ voices to urban audiences through a programme called ‘Smart Agriculture’ - to be broadcast every Saturday and Sunday from 25 July on CNN-IBN - we have learnt that agriculture is not a low-profit activity. In fact, it returns more than double the amount of cash invested. Sandipan Suman, a 47 year-old agricultural sciences graduate and maize grower in Bihar’s...
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Maharashtra records most farmer suicides -Pavan Dahat
-The Hindu Chhattisgarh records the fourth highest in the country. With 2,568 farmers’ suicides during 2014, Maharashtra recorded the highest number in the country, though activists pointed out that the number was far higher. The data released on Friday by the National Crime Records Bureau also show that Chhattisgarh is among the top four States in farmers’ suicides. According to the NCRB, Maharashtra recorded 578 fewer suicides than 2013, when 3,146 farmers ended their...
More »Monsoons and markets -Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express These are the root causes of agricultural distress. Farmers need better irrigation and access to markets. Speaking at the foundation day celebrations of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) on July 12, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that there were reasons to smile on the economic front as India remains a bright spot, despite the global slowdown. He talked about the 7-8 per cent...
More »Pulses and the zero hunger challenge -MS Swaminathan
-Financial Chronicle Hunger has three major dimensions. First, is widespread undernutrition or calorie deprivation; second, there is inadequate consumption of pulses and other protein rich foods leading to protein hunger; third, the diet of the underprivileged sections of our society, normally deficient in micronutrients like iron, iodine, zinc, vitamin A and vitamin B12. If we wish to achieve the zero hunger challenge by 2025, we will have to pay concurrent attention...
More »Drug pricing policy irrational, re-examine it, Supreme Court tells Centre
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to re-examine its drug pricing policy for essential medicines, calling it "unreasonable and irrational" as the price of some medicines is at around 4000% higher than what has been fixed by some state governments. A bench headed by Justice TS Thakur asked the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers to analyze and give explanation why the controlled price of...
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