-Livemint.com While there are several creditable achievements, it is the deeper structural reforms where expectations from a strong government have not been met Amidst expectations of a magical transformation of the Indian economy, the Narendra Modi government took over the reins in May 2014. During the election campaign, people were led to believe that the Gujarat model of agricultural development, which delivered 8% growth in agriculture during fiscal years 2003-14, would be...

-Financial Express Among the six states studied by Icrier, Gujarat spends the most on agriculture R&E (0.59%), followed by Bihar (0.50%), Punjab (0.41%), Odisha (0.25%), Uttar Pradesh (0.17%) and Madhya Pradesh (0.24%). The government’s expenditure on agricultural research and extension education services is not only very low but also heavily skewed in favour of crops, even as the dairy sector has a rapidly increasing share in the gross value of output...

-The Financial Express The recent spell of unseasonable rains and hailstorms in a clutch of northern states haven’t had any major adverse impact on the rabi crop being harvested, officials claimed, based on field reports. The agriculture ministry has been expecting all-time high foodgrain production of 277.5 million tonnes in 2017-18 crop year (July-June) on good distribution of monsoon rainfall last year, even though pan-India rains were just 95% of the...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central government will soon set up a real-time online database of ration cards and the beneficiaries under the national food security scheme to end any possibility of anyone procuring a fake or more than one ration card from any part of the country. The system will also enable lakhs of migrant workers to get subsidised foodgrains irrespective of the place from where the cards...

-Hindustan Times Both, the farmers who undertook the march and those who went on strike, represent the wide spectrum of the state’s ongoing agrarian and rural distress. Last year, on June 1, thousands of farmers in Maharashtra went on an unprecedented strike, refusing to sell their produce to markets and cutting off supply of daily necessities – milk, vegetables and fruits – to cities. The two-day strike forced the Devendra Fadnavis-led...