The Centre on Thursday asked the states to appoint dedicated staff in each panchayat for effective implementation of rural development schemes, saying no goals could be achieved without them. “We are spending Rs40 lakh each year on various functionaries in Panchayats and there is no one (visible) except the gram sevaks,” union minister for rural development C. P. Joshi said while addresing a conference of state ministers on total sanitation here. “There...
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Sugarcane farmers see ploy in surplus crop forecast by Pupul Chatterjee
Even as the state sugar commissionerate has predicted a surplus sugarcane crop this year, farmers have a different take. They allege that this is a “ploy by co-operatives and the commissionerate” so that defunct sugar mills can be started again. Also, sugar prices are likely to see a sharp fall in the wake of the forecast. As per the official figures, Maharashtra is likely to produce around 8.5 million tonnes of...
More »Farmers upset over delay in payment for sugarcane by Nikhil Deshmukh
Farmer organisations Shetkari Sanghatna and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna are up in arms over the delay in announcing the first payment instalment for sugarcane by sugar factories in the state. Normally, the sugar factories announce the first instalment before starting of the actual crushing. This is done mainly to ensure supply of adequate and quality sugarcane. This year, there is excess production of sugarcane and many factories have not yet announced...
More »Sharad Pawar wary of Sonia Gandhi's big food security plan by Sreejiraj Eluvangal
The National Advisory Council (NAC), led by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, may have suggested doubling food subsidies to keep an electoral promise, but the country’s food and agriculture minister, Sharad Pawar, is not amused. Pawar has expressed frustration at the NAC’s suggestion to provide subsidised food to 75% of the population. “It (the NAC proposal) reminds me of an old AICC (All Indian Congress Committee) resolution when I was a young...
More »UN agency steps in to help Pakistani farmers after floods destroyed seed stocks
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is distributing wheat seeds that will benefit over half a million farming families, or nearly five million people, whose seed supplies were destroyed during the recent flood disaster. The floods, which began in late July and inundated one fifth of the country, claimed more than 1,800 lives and have affected more than 20 million others. Agriculture is the mainstay for over 80 per cent...
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