-Livemint.com In the case of repeated farm loan waivers, it makes sense for borrowers to default strategically Hope: The Narendra Modi government says it wants to double farm income by 2022 through the transformation of Indian agriculture. Reality: The political discourse continues to focus perversely on farm loan waivers. Here are some recent instances. The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is considering a farm loan waiver as promised in its election...

-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...

-Firstpost.com Putting state governments that promised loan waivers for farmers in difficulty, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday ruled out such waivers by the Centre insisting states can utilise their own resources in this regard. He clarified that the Centre will not adopt a selective approach by helping one state and not the others. The move is likely to put even BJP governments, including Devendra Fadnavis administration in Maharashtra and the newly...

-The Indian Express Agricultural growth in Uttar Pradesh can be achieved by putting dairy in the lead role. State’s new chief minister has his task cut out for him Yogi Adityanath’s taking over as Uttar Pradesh chief minister has been criticised by several political pundits who say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has picked “cow over development”. They may soon have to bite the dust, like the economic pundits, who had...

-The Indian Express Census data of 2011 shows a 17.74 per cent increase in worker population since 2001, indicating a crucial shift from farms as productivity fell. Thiruvarur: B CHANDIRAN is the only male member below the age of 50 in Dalit-dominated Oradiymbalam Jeeva Nagar village in Nagapattinam district. Hunted by loan sharks, the other men in this village of over 60 families have left, and are now doing menial jobs...