-The Times of India VIJAYAWADA: In what could be a disturbing scenario, agriculture experts point out that Andhra Pradesh is facing the worst-ever drought situation in its history as more than 370 of the total 670 mandals are severely ravaged by drought. "This is the worst drought ever. While there were no rains in September, all districts except East and West Godavari are facing acute drought. The number of drought-affected mandals will...

-The Times of India VIJAYAWADA: The farm credit disbursal system in the state remains crippled for a long time now as a majority of tenant farmers, who constitute about 80 per cent of the cultivators in the state, are unable to avail of the loan facility. Experts say the latest recommendations by the bankers' sub-committees also do not reflect the reality. In fact, they fear the recommendations will only aggravate the...

-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. Agriculture subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...

-The Indian Express India should learn from China and start with liberalisation of rural land, labour and capital markets before attempting bigger things. Independence Day has come and gone with its usual mix of celebrations, pride and ruminations on how things could be better. Interestingly, several media commentaries tagged the event with the 25th anniversary of economic reforms, launched in 1991 around the same time of the year. They largely dwelt on the theme...

Rising prices of dal: How to deal with it? The 68th session of the United Nations General Assembly declared 2016 as the International Year of Pulses. In India, however, ordinary citizens are under enormous duress due to the skyrocketing prices of dal/ lentils since the last one year. The website of Price Monitoring Cell of the Department of Consumer Affairs shows that dal prices varied across places. For example, the...