-The Economic Times New Delhi: The government has asked 25 states that received less than 75% rainfall during the monsoon to factor in the deficit while preparing the labour budget for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in FY18. According to data analysed by the agriculture ministry, 155 districts in 25 states received less than 75% of the long period average rainfall between June and September 2016. States...
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Crop Burning: Punjab and Haryana's killer fields -Polash Mukerjee
-Down to Earth Punjab produces about 19-20 million tonnes of paddy straw and about 85-90 per cent of this paddy straw is burnt in the field Burning of agricultural biomass residue, or Crop Residue Burning (CRB) has been identified as a major health hazard. In addition to causing exposure to extremely high levels of Particulate Matter concentration to people in the immediate vicinity, it is also a major regional source of...
More »Agriculture economics: The next big farm solution - cutting production costs -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express In a scenario of depressed crop prices, a unique PPP model in milk shows the way out. Coimbatore: For roughly a decade from 2004-05 to 2013-14, Indian farmers experienced rising incomes from higher crop prices year after year — something they pretty much took for granted. That party ended with the crash in global commodity prices, hitting agricultural exports hard and translating into lower farm-gate realisations for most crops. But...
More »The salience of the Singur verdict -Suhrith Parthasarathy
-The Hindu A more progressive Central law on land acquisition is now in place, but several States have already either amended the new law or enacted legislation of their own. On August 31, the Supreme Court in Kedar Nath Yadav v. State of West Bengal delivered one of the most momentous decisions of the year. It invalidated the expropriation of land in Singur by the erstwhile Left Front government in Bengal, and...
More »Gender equality may help improve food security
-The Hindu Business Line UN study says climate change hits the poor hardest New Delhi: Do women hold the key to dealing with one of the most scorching impacts of climate change — food insecurity. According to a UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs study, titled ‘Climate Change Resilience: An Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities’, eliminating gender inequalities could increase agricultural output by as much as 4 per cent, reducing the number of...
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