-TheWire.in Despite the agrarian crisis that India is reeling under, the parliamentary standing committee noted that the government’s efforts in implementing irrigation projects has been ‘lethargic’. New Delhi: A report of the parliamentary standing committee on rural development has revealed that only 10% of the projects taken up under the watershed development component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) have been completed. The report outlines that given that a majority...

-Down to Earth In a major digression from the current discourse on GM crops, the report claimed that the farmers in India have “enthusiastically embraced” GM seeds For the first time since the five-year plans were scrapped, the NITI Aayog presented the three-year action plan last week. The report, which draws on recommendations made by the Task Force on Agricultural Development and a group of secretaries appointed by PM Modi at...

-The Indian Express On agriculture, three years into the Modi government, while many steps have been taken to realise promises made in 2014, others have fallen by the wayside With the Modi government completing three years in office, it is time to assess its performance in various sectors. We focus here on agriculture. Without robust growth in agriculture, “sabka saath, sabka vikas” will remain an empty slogan. There are two ways to evaluate...

-The Indian Express In Budget 2017-18, a sum of Rs 7,377 crore has been allocated to the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, a 42 per cent jump over the revised estimates for FY17. India is home to 17.5 per cent of the world’s population, but has only 4 per cent of the fresh water resources. Agriculture consumes some 78 per cent of the fresh water supply. With increasing urbanisation and industrialisation, India...

Expanding irrigation network in the country is considered as essential to raise agricultural production in the face of increased frequency of droughts. However, a newly released report from the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare shows that there has actually been a fall in the growth rate of net irrigated area during the recent two decades. The report entitled State of Indian Agriculture 2015-16 reveals that the growth rate in...