-Reuters PERLE: As a shiny red harvester bounces across the black earth into the first row of sugar cane, excited schoolchildren run after it and several dozen men stand gaping in the wake of its swift progress. It's the first time that Perle, a village on the banks of the Krishna river in Maharashtra state, has seen a machine used for cutting the tough cane. "This machine will harvest my entire field today,"...
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What are the challenges & possible solutions in the implemention of RTE Act- Labonita Ghosh
A fourth of school students will need to be from less-privileged sections of society following an SC ruling on the RTE Act. While this can bring in social transformation, there are implementation challenges. Educationists share some solutions with Labonita Ghosh Problem 1: WHO WILL FOOT THE BILL? The government has offered to pay for the 25% of less-privileged students who will now have to be admitted into private schools, but it's not...
More »EGoM to discuss issues raised by Pawar
-The Hindu The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Food will meet soon following a letter by Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on curbs over milk, cotton and sugar exports. The EgoM is headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. Mr. Pawar shot off the letter to the Prime Minister after the EGoM disallowed export of cotton beyond 13 million bales for the current marketing year the...
More »Fertiliser Ministry moots 10% hike in urea prices-Rituraj Tiwari
The fertiliser ministry is mooting a proposal to raise urea prices by 10%. With this proposed revision, which will have to be endorsed by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, urea prices will go up from Rs 5,310 per tonne to Rs 5,841 per tonne. This will help the government to reduce its annual subsidy burden by around Rs 2,000 crore. At present , the annual urea subsidy bill is in...
More »Where are farm hands when you need them? by Devinder Sharma
MGNREGA is certainly a good idea. But it can’t be allowed to play havoc with farming operations by weaning away labourers during peak season RURAL DEVELOPMENT Minister Jairam Ramesh recently rubbished the need for freezing the flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA during peak agricultural season. Dismissing the possibility, Ramesh had said: “The matter has been examined by the Mihir Shah Committee and rejected.” Knowing that Mihir Shah’s entry into Planning Commission...
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