-The Indian Express Decentralised industrialisation, entrepreneurship from below have been absent in states that have seen recent unrest among agrarian communities. “The soil here is very saline with electrical conductivity value of 9. We can grow only chloride-loving crops like coconut and the MR-2 variety of mulberry.” That was Tamil Selvi, recently telling this correspondent about the 5.75-acre land farmed by her father Natarajan Gounder at Velayuthagoundanpudur, a small village around 25...

-Livemint.com The problem could be most acute for pulses with production hitting a record high but prices falling below the govt’s minimum support prices New Delhi: Following consecutive years of drought, India is set to harvest a record crop of foodgrains but farm incomes could take a hit due to falling wholesale prices. The problem could be most acute for pulses with production hitting a record high but prices falling below the...

-The New Indian Express BHAWANIPATNA: More than 60 per cent of cultivable land lies infertile in Kalahandi district. Rain has been playing hide and seek year after year pushing small and marginal farmers to the brink. On the irrigation front too, Indravati project has failed to provide succour. Nearly 63 per cent of the district’s population lives below the poverty line. A rough estimate reveals that 30,000 people from 10,000 families migrate...

-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...

-Livemint.com Contrary to popular perception, it’s not because of good luck or necessarily a large growth sacrifice; policymakers deserve more credit than they get One of the most visible macroeconomic successes in India over the last three years has been the sustained moderation of headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation. CPI (industrial workers) averaged 9.5% for six years between 2007 and 2013. For the last 30 months, however, it has averaged...