-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...

-PRS Legislative Research The key findings of the report entitled: State of Agriculture in India by Tanvi Deshpande (March, 2017) are as follows: * The agriculture sector employs nearly half of the workforce in the country.  However, it contributes to 17.5% of the GDP (at current prices in 2015-16). * Over the past few decades, the manufacturing and services sectors have increasingly contributed to the growth of the economy, while the agriculture sector’s...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru: “There is no wateror fodder this year, and it has become tough to manage my three cows,” says Nagamma, a dairy farmer at Maradevanahalli village in Maddur taluk. The cows and her one-acre farm are her only sources of livelihood. “The milk yields have reduced: these days I get only about 5-6 litres, against 10-12 litres earlier,” she adds. The Maradevanahalli village panchayat provides about 200 litres...

-TheWire.in Falling prices and a lack of adequate procurement centres have left tur producers grasping for a way out. The chief minister of Maharashtra is sending disturbing political signals to dryland farmers in his state. His recent statement, which was aimed at reassuring tur (arhar) producers in the state, says that in order to help farmers who are bearing the brunt of a fall in its prices below the minimum support price...

-Down to Earth Meat eating is not the key issue, it is the amount that is consumed and the manner in which it is produced. This is where India differs. Recently at the release of our book First Food: Culture of Taste, which discusses the link between biodiversity, nutrition and livelihoods, I was asked a question. “Why do you not, as an environmentalist espousing the cause of traditional and local diets that...