-The Hindu Business Line Hiring labourers from Bihar for paddy milling work Hyderabad: Even as thousands of migrant labourers are home-bound in the special Shramik trains, about 350 labourers from Bihar have arrived at Lingampally Railway Station here. They are here to work at rice mills in the State. They are being sent to rice mills in six districts. “We are expecting about 5-6,000 of them in the next 3-4 days,” Narender, President...

-Business Standard Farmers allowed to sell 46 fruits and vegetables directly without bringing them to mandis After allowing FPOs to directly procure from Farmers, Uttar Pradesh has announced another set of reforms to its Mandi Act. The state joins the long list of domains that have used the Covid-19 crisis to make changes in their APMC rules in order to facilitate direct procurement from Farmers. Please click here to read more. ...

-Livemint.com * A ground report reveals deep distress among vegetable and fruit Farmers. Is this the right stage for agri-reform? * Despite repeated attempts to weaken state regulation, no competing agency can aggregate large volumes of produce and also help in price discovery BULANDSHAHR/ NEW DELHI: When Surendra Panwar speaks, his words are steeped in politeness. For instance, when asked whether it was his farm, Panwar’s response was, “Yes, but it belongs to...

-Newsclick.in Several nomadic people usually set out in March on traditional routes, where animals feed on vegetation. Once lockdown is lifted and kharif sowing starts, the animals will be left with nothing to chew on. Pastoral nomads stranded in the lockdown in Rajasthan’s desert region since March 25, are worried about feeding their animals, as once the lockdown lifts, the summer heat would have dried out vegetation on their traditional routes. The seasonal...

-Newsclick.in The lockdown has got the government talking about agri ‘reforms’ again, but the exploitation of India’s weakest Farmers continues unchecked. It is a cruel irony that in the sixth week of the nationwide lockdown, the government is talking up omnibus agriculture “reforms” as if they can mitigate the growing distress in rural India. Reforms, no doubt, implies stricter compliance with online registration and payment rules, more focus on market-based pricing, and...