-The Indian Express Farmers have so far sown only 38.91 lakh hectares (lh) under pulses in the current rabi season from October. Dry weather extending to the post-monsoon period has led to reduced plantings of most rabi crops, raising the prospect of a fourth consecutive harvest failure for farmers and also making it more difficult for the RBI to slash interest rates. Farmers have so far sown only 38.91 lakh hectares (lh)...

-The Financial Express Come January, Food Corporation of India (FCI), under a severe financial crunch, may be forced to trim its procurement operations. Come January, Food Corporation of India (FCI), under a severe financial crunch, may be forced to trim its procurement operations. Unless the finance ministry releases a good part of the unpaid subsidy of Rs 58,000 crore or let Life Insurance Corporation raise Rs 40,000 crore to support FCI soon,...

-Financial Chronicle Return for farmers could grow as overall output of cereal crops has remained stable With growing health awareness and relatively lower costs, millets are making a strong comeback after experiencing negative growth for several years. Millets, which are coarse cereals, need less water and are hence preferred by farmers in areas where there is a shortage of water. The crop is also favoured because of its productivity and short growing...

-The Hindu As Delhi blames the smog and haze on straw burning in the National Capital Region and the neighbouring states, the farmers are pointing the finger at the government’s inefficient agricultural model that they say has forced them to take up the polluting practice. Gora Singh Chaina, a farmer from Punjab, says the government itself promoted chemical-based farming which leaves farmers with no option but to engage in straw burning. “Why...

-Financial Express The country must double its support to farmers, from the current levels of about 6-8% of the value of agri-output It was in the mid-1980s that the ‘India-Bharat’ phraseology was fist pushed into political jargon, by farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi, with ‘India’ representing the urban elite of the country and ‘Bharat’ synonymous with its neglected rural folk. Joshi, at the time, was leading lakhs of farmers protesting against anti-farmer policies,...