-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Seeking to increase milk production by developing indigenous breeds of cows, the government has decided to set up two national centres which will be dedicated to develop new breeds of 'desi' cows and support a network of 'Integrated Indigenous Cattle Centres' across the country. Known as 'National Kamdhenu Breeding Centre', one national centre will be set up in north and the other in south India during...

-Outlook Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh government today signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Power Ministry, launching the 'Power for All' scheme from October 2 in the state. Andhra Pradesh is the third state in the country after Delhi and Rajasthan where the scheme is being launched to ensure 24x7 electricity supply to all sectors (excluding agriculture). The state government also signed an MoU with NTPC for setting up a 4000 MW super...

-The Indian Express The MGNREGS stands out as one of the Indian government's most ambitious social schemes, with far-reaching consequences throughout the economy. The only known recipe for poverty eradication is a combination of high growth and high development spending. Neither is sufficient. A recent study (Kapoor and Ahluwalia, 2012) has shown that post-liberalisation, one champion of poverty reduction in India is Andhra Pradesh. This reduction in poverty is widespread, as...

-Down to Earth Working out the details and convergence with other programmes like rural job scheme will take time, say officials One of the ambitious schemes of new government of providing irrigation facility to all farms may not take off before financial year 2016-17. The programme, Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayi Yojana (PMKSY), was announced in this year's budget and Rs 1,000 crore was allocated for it. This allocation may be further enhanced...

In the midst of irregular monsoons affecting agriculture, a new report shows stagnation in the state of irrigation infrastructure. The recent report entitled Infrastructure Statistics 2014 (Third Issue) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has provided information that despite the rise in expenditure on irrigation infrastructure, there has been no substantial improvement in the gross irrigation potential utilized*. Athough expenditure on irrigation has increased from Rs. 36561.64 crores...