-Livemint.com A return of the coronavirus in Europe has spooked global markets. Even as India recovers, some regions are at a similar risk, including the national capital Several parts of Europe are under threat of fresh lockdowns as the dreaded “second wave" of the coronavirus sweeps through the continent. Markets globally are reacting in panic, with European stock futures touching a five-month low on Wednesday. Indian markets have also been jittery in...

-Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Working Paper 383 Farmers, especially small and marginal, do not directly trade in agri-futures market in India. Their small size, lack of trust and understanding of futures market and dependence on middlemen, are some of the main deterrents. The role of Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) is crucial in this context since they can procure commodities, aggregate them and ensure that size and...

-Financial Express With elections approaching, every party is swearing by farmers and trying to woo them for their votes. The Modi government has already announced a package of Rs 75,000 crore for about 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. While in absolute terms it looks sizeable, when it is divided by the number of farm families to be covered, it is miniscule—just `6,000 per family per year, which is about 6%...

-The Indian Express Modi government’s decision to hike import duty on edible oils has come too little, too late for soyabean farmers Latur: Arun Kulkarni planted soyabean on 10 out of his 14-acre holding in the recent kharif season and harvested 65 quintals of the crop towards September-end. But unlike most of his neighbours, this farmer from Tandulja village in Latur — Maharashtra’s largest soyabean-growing district and the country’s No. 2...

-IndiaSpend The drop comes despite a good monsoon in 2016 A good monsoon that led to record sowing and production of pulses–especially tur dal (pigeon pea)–has almost halved their wholesale and retail prices in 2017, a year after dal prices skyrocketed to Rs 200 per kg in some cities at the end of 2015. In many state-regulated agricultural markets of major tur-producing states such as Maharashtra and Karnataka, prices have fallen to Rs...