-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The season's rainfall deficit contracted to 2% from 6% in a day on Monday. The weather office has forecast heavy showers in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and t parts of east in the next 24 hours. This could speed up planting of i paddy, oilseeds, coarse cereals, cotton, sugarcane and pulses. Monday's rainfall, 14.8 mm, was 74% higher than normal, as monsoon reached new areas...

-The Indian Express Agriculture needs a champion in the Union cabinet. July, this year, marks the silver jubilee of economic reforms. It is time to take stock of our major successes and failures. There is a saying that bad times are often good for policies and good times are bad for policies. It is well-known that the foreign exchange crisis, with reserves falling to as low as $1.5 billion, triggered fundamental changes...

-The Indian Express This has been brought about mainly by declining price realisations in basmati paddy and Bt cotton, the two crops profitable enough to make it worthwhile for farmers to expand acreages. Jalandhar: Lease rentals on farmlands in Punjab — India’s granary state — have collapsed, providing the clearest indication of an agricultural downturn and farmers choosing to go back to growing parmal paddy in place of high-risk basmati and cotton...

-The Hindu Agriculture Department getting more and more enquiries Tiruchirapalli (TIRUCHI): There have been days when Mohan Kumaramangalam (51), a marginal farmer in Kalaththil Ventrar Pettai in Lalgudi taluk, seriously considered giving up farming because of acute shortage of workers. But he has had a change of mind after he acquired a paddy transplanter which helped him overcome shortage of workers. Although he had acquired the motorised but hand-held imported transplanter for his...

-Livemint.com In the last decade, the rural constituent has emerged an important factor for overall private final consumption, which forms more than half (55-60% range) of India’s demand side GDP An above-average monsoon is commonly expected to be a key demand driver in 2016-17. Gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for the year incorporate a revival in rural consumption—a segment that suffered severe setback from two successive years of adverse rainfall. In...