-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: In an effort to raise agriculture productivity and raise farm prices, government's premier think tank NITI Aayog is considering a series of big ticket agriculture reforms that include changes in the fertiliser policy to allow free import of urea, explore transgenic crops in pulses and oilseeds and make land laws transparent. A paper emerging from the work of Aayog's task force on agriculture development, has moving fertiliser...

-Livemint.com Prices of pulses have been consistently on a rise for past few months, forcing the government to announce a number of measures to check hoarding New Delhi: Why are the prices of pulses rising? Will they stabilize anytime soon? The prices have been rising steadily over the last few months. Inflation in lentils stood at 46% in November, after hitting 42% in October, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers...

-Economic and Political Weekly Why has pulse production stagnated despite measures to boost production being well known? This season, the prices of pulses (dals) have been on fire. According to the Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, the average retail price of red gram (tuar) doubled from around Rs 80 a kg in March 2015 to Rs 150–Rs 160 a kg in November 2015. What could...

-Business Standard Unless irrigation expands, agriculture will not be drought-proof Even as India celebrates the golden jubilee of the Green Revolution, the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) has come out with data indicating that nearly 70 per cent of farmers subsist on economically unviable farm holdings of less than a hectare in size. Over one-fifth of farm households report salaried employment, and not farming, as the prime source of their income. Around...

-The Hindu Business Line Rice millers are making a killing due to policy gaps and old rates, says report The government is losing thousands of crores while rice mill owners are raking in the moolah, said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday. The report said mill owners are cashing in on lacunae in the government’s policy on the sale of paddy and rice by-products —...