-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Union agriculture ministry is probing the circumstances under which a senior government scientist purportedly tried to malign vaccines used to protect livestock from foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks that can threaten India's milk yields. An expert panel from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has told the agriculture ministry that Bhoj Raj Singh, a microbiologist at an ICAR research centre, has "caused damage" to the reputation of India's foot-and-mouth...

-The Hindu The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) has generated more rural employment than any other government scheme or private initiative in the history of independent India. At the same time, it has also generated a great deal of controversy over its merits and demerits. It would be fair to say that the policy establishment in the country right now is not favourably disposed towards the MGNREGA, with the...

-Hindustan Times Hyderabad/ Bhubaneswar/ New Delhi: A blazing sun baked large parts of India on Friday with a searing heat wave claiming dozens of lives this summer in a budding El Nino year, while the weather office predicted worse days ahead. The oppressive conditions have killed at least 21 people in the southern state of Telangana as the meteorological department said the mercury would likely shoot up further and advised people to...

-PTI AHMEDABAD: A prominent agriculture analyst has proposed setting up of income commission at national and state levels for farmers, which will guarantee them specific monthly income against the backdrop of agrarian crisis. "An income commission should be formed for farmers, under which they would be entitled to get a minimum monthly income on the basis of their production and the area under cultivation," said Devinder Sharma. He was speaking to reporters on...

-DNA India Constant decrease in investment on research and development blamed for carelessly conceived schemes A fishing project in the deserts of Rajasthan, cold storage facilities for bananas in Maharashtra's no-banana Pune district, milk coolers in Gujarat's Sagbara region where there is no milk production and no electricity either… Those are just some of the examples of carelessly conceived government schemes to bolster farm growth at a time share of the...