-TheWire.in Raising productivity, reforming land policies and solving the remunerative price mess will require massive amounts of public investment and political will. Is the Modi government up to the task? The Niti Aayog recently came out with its ‘Three Year Action Agenda’ – a plan that covers a time period that is politically crucial as it leads up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In its chapter on agriculture titled ‘Agriculture: Doubling Farmer’s...

-Scroll.in Instead of wages for a short period of time, the family running the project in Lanka village will create an asset for life. Mahavir Parhaiya’s household in the remote village of Lanka in Latehar district of Jharkhand is bustling with activity. They are busy working on setting up a mango plantation on what was once a barren plot near their house, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...

-Livemint.com In the case of repeated farm loan waivers, it makes sense for borrowers to default strategically Hope: The Narendra Modi government says it wants to double farm income by 2022 through the transformation of Indian agriculture. Reality: The political discourse continues to focus perversely on farm loan waivers. Here are some recent instances. The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is considering a farm loan waiver as promised in its election...

-The Tribune Demonetisation didn’t overly impact the sector, but devitalisation is a concern THERE has been a lot of speculation about the extent of damage due to demonetisation on agriculture. Small farmers suffered most because cash in hand means a lot to them. They were unable to pay for inputs like fertilisers, seeds and farm labour and experienced low demand for their perishable produce. The latest data from government’s agricultural ministry however...

-The Hindu The unorganised manufacturing sector should be reoriented towards non-household units to provide efficiency gains. Ever since E.F. Schumacher, a British economist, published in 1973 his book Small is Beautiful, implying that small units are better in terms of performance indicators and labour absorption, several studies have endorsed the same idea and argued in favour of promoting small units. Stretching the argument a little further, it may be emphasised that small...