-The Hindu Business Line Opening up the dairy market to the US will place India at an economic disadvantage and hurt small farmers, businesses in the sector The upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to India may see the contours of the Indo-US deal being finalised in specific sectors, which is also likely to include allowing for market access for US dairy products in India. This move is likely to have...

-The Tribune LIC is India’s biggest stock-market investor. Once listed, it might be tempted to increase its exposure to equities. We know what that did to India’s most popular mutual fund in the late 1990s. UTI’s US-64 collapsed because it had made too many risky investments. Most of 20 crore small investors never recovered investments A few years ago, I was part of a jury to select the best businesses in India...

-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...

-The Hindu Powerful lobbies with vested interests see agroecology as a threat to their influence on farming systems Agroecology is recognised worldwide as a system that enhances fertile landscapes, increases yields, restores soil health and biodiversity, promotes climate resilience and improves farmers’ well-being. Its practices are supported by many agricultural scientists, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, farmers’ groups and several NGOs. It is therefore surprising that...

-The Hindu Business Line Write to Commerce Minister demanding negotiations be put on hold till they are consulted New Delhi: A number of farmer organisations, trade unions, livestock and fisheries groups and civil society bodies have written an open letter to Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal stating that most of them had not been consulted on the on-going negotiations for the proposed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) pact and expressed concerns that their...