The UPA-II has used the Budget to again play politics with hunger. But it has paid no heed to the ticking time bomb of growing social tensions as 58 million Indians living off agriculture slide deeper into poverty. The Economic Survey says more than half the population is dependent on a sector whose share in the economy is shrinking. The urban-rural income divide is therefore steadily widening, a tinder box that...
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Global food prices seen falling as demand growth slows: FAO
-Bloomberg World food prices will drop this year as increase in unemployment in developing and developed countries slows growth in demand, the United Nations said. “We have started to see a decline in food prices,” Jose Graziano da Silva, director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, said at a conference in Hanoi on Thursday. World economic expansion will slow to 3.3% this year from 3.8% in 2011, according to the International...
More »No green signal yet for the Yuva Kisan by MS Swaminathan
In this year's budget, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has essentially tried to consolidate the gains from the initiatives he had launched during the previous two budgets. Thus, in agriculture there is no new initiative except increasing the target for agricultural credit to Rs.5,75,000 crore during 2012-13. This represents an increase of over Rs.1,00,000 crore from last year. The interest rate of four per cent recommended by the National Commission...
More »Assam’s farmers losing interest in rice cultivation
-IANS Farmers of Assam, that recently boasted of having a record rice harvest, are losing interest in paddy cultivation, saying they were facing financial ruin in the absence a minimum support price and adequate procurement centres for their produce. Rice production is going down as the Food Corporation of India (FCI) has not fixed the price to buy back the farmers’ produce, say farmers’ representatives. And there are only 20 FCI procurement...
More »Economic Survey 2012: Minimum farm growth needed for inclusive growth and development of rural areas-Nidhi Nath Srinivas
The Economic Survey has warned that more than half the population is dependent on a sector whose share in the economy is shrinking, leading to a bigger urban-rural divide and threatening national food security. "Achieving minimum agricultural growth is a prerequisite for inclusive growth, reduction of poverty levels, development of the rural economy and enhancing of farm incomes," the Survey has said. But it offers no path-breaking solutions on how to meet...
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