-The Economic Times The ills of Indian agriculture are many and well documented: highly fragmented land holdings, inadequate mechanisation, low quality and quantity of inputs, high dependence on monsoons, and so on. But the sector may do better in the future. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's success in raising the pace of agricultural growth in Gujarat and his government's intention of introducing agri reforms-the recent raising of import duty on sugar, meant to...

-The Hindu   On the first anniversary of the Uttarakhand disaster, here's a look at issues plaguing the fledgling state. On June 16, it will be a year since Uttarakhand experienced its worst natural disaster. It was also a year of loss, of grief, of recovery and of resilience. While those affected continue to cope and rise, we need to look beyond the disaster in order to unravel the contradictions and challenges that...

-The Hindu   Kudumbasree members undergo Food Security Army training   Thrissur (Kerala): The smile on Sheeba Satheesh's face says it all. While working in farms, she had been diffident. "I have been an agriculture worker for four years, but lacked skills," she said.   The Food Security Army (FSA) training has inspired confidence in her. She and several colleagues in the Kudumbasree movement were a part of the FSA training conducted in the district recently. Says Celina...

-The Hindu Business Line     A set of technologies that deals with production and marketing constraints can work wonders Indian agriculture faces herculean challenges today; yet, the near- and the medium-term outlook on agriculture and agri-businesses seem bright. Growing urbanisation and changing food habits, malnutrition plus declining areas under foodgrain pose a big threat to food security. Agriculture and food production are strongly influenced by international trade, credit availability, development co-operation, climate change and environmental...

-Deccan Chronicle   New Delhi: Tipped to be agriculture minister, Radha Mohan Singh has an arduous task at hand to boost the growth, which could not meet the target of four per cent per year in recent years.   Also, the El Nino threat to the monsoon rains will be the immediate challenge, which can affect the foodgrains productions in the next financial year. Even though there has been record foodgrains productions in the past...