Wheat prices have stayed stubborny high in India, despite several steps by the government including an export ban and announcing open market prices. - Mint Official figures show that daily retail wheat flour (atta) prices as on 1 February were 22% higher year on year, while wholesale prices were 31% higher. Wheat prices have been inching up through 2022 after a heat wave cut production and pushed the government to ban exports...

-Business Standard The paddy procurement process started in the state-run primary cooperative societies' 2,600 procurement centres from November 1 Raipur: Chhattisgarh is moving ahead to meet its paddy procurement target even as 70 per cent of it has been purchased from farmers. One of the few states in the country to procure paddy from farmers at minimum support price (MSP), Chhattisgarh has set a target to purchase 11 million tonnes (MT) during the...

-The Hindu The Centre’s taking up the burden for free food grain distribution in 2023 will provide relief to States The Government has decided not to extend the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, (PMGKY), a scheme that ran between April 2020 to December 2022 (except for a short period in between), and provided additional allocation of food grains, i.e., rice or wheat from the central pool at five kilograms a month...

-Hindustan Times Farm policymaking slowed down after the repeal of three laws in 2021. But the climate crisis, geopolitical instability and inflation have exacerbated the urgency for reforms In November 2021, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi repealed three contentious farm laws in a dramatic turnaround. The entire episode — from the passage of the laws, the protests that followed and the turnaround — had stalled national agriculture policymaking. Yet, as this column...

-The Daily Pioneer The MSME sector does not need more laws and regulation but handholding and support in India The importance of the MSME in the economic and social development of the country, especially for developing nations, has been established in various studies conducted by the international institutions. In India, the role of SME is proven by the fact that they contribute about 30 per cent of the GDP and 45 per...