-The Economic Times Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has given ample hint that Budget 2018 is going to be a farmer's Budget. Jaitley has said the agriculture sector is the top priority for the government because the country's economic growth is not justifiable and equitable unless the benefits were clear and evident in the farm sector. After launching options trading in guar seed on commodity exchange NCDEX yesterday, Jaitley said, "We see in...

-The Hindu India must exploit the potential of this technology to help farmers meet irrigation needs In the past few years, solar pumps have consistently piqued the interest of various bureaucrats and politicians. The Prime Minister spoke about solar pumps from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 2016. There is no shortage of ideas which the Centre, States, civil society organisations, and enterprises are adopting to enhance penetration of solar for...

- The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Aadhaar's principal goals were to end fraud and reach welfare to the poorest. But in practice it has achieved neither. The claimed elimination of bogus cards has been found to be exaggerated. On the other hand, the insistence on the Aadhaar card has led to the brutal exclusion from welfare of the very poor and the homeless — for reasons such as...

-The Hindu Business Line Lingering distress in the sector may force the govt to think innovatively New Delhi: Agriculture sector, which suffered badly despite higher production in the last two years, may be a key focus area for the NDA government, when it presents its last full-fledged Union Budget before the 2019 general elections. Attending a function recently in the Capital, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unequivocally said that that the farm sector...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre's plan to install nearly a million solar-Powered water pumps for irrigation in the next three years through a 30 per cent government subsidy appears fiscally unrealistic, energy researchers cautioned on Thursday and called for alternative financing strategies. The researchers with the New Delhi-based Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) have estimated that the 30 per cent subsidy on solar irrigation pumps would cost the government...