-The Hindu Business Line MSP signalling in favour of oilseeds, pulses should be backed up by credible procurement steps In announcing the minimum support prices for the kharif season, the Centre has rightly stuck to its plan of trying to wean away acreage from rice, particularly in rainfed areas, to pulses and oilseeds. This has been its policy since 2015, and it has resulted in output gains and increased acreage in pulses,...

-Newsclick.in If rise in input costs is compared with new MSP, then in real terms, MSP has been reduced for 11 out 14 Kharif crops, the leaders said. New Delhi: Terming it a “cruel joke” on farmers, farmer organisations on Thursday said that the increase in minimum support price (MSP) of 14 crops for Kharif season 2022-23 announced by the Centre merely covers the impact of inflated prices of inputs including seeds,...

-The Hindu It is ad hoc, hurts farmers’ incomes, and may not impact inflation much  Over the last month, the government has banned the export of Wheat and imposed quantitative restrictions on outbound sugar shipments. The Wheat export ban came within days of a push to enhance India’s Wheat supplies to the rest of the world after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is a time of persistently high inflation, spurred by rising...

-Down to Earth Low returns and high risks from alternative crops among reasons past efforts failed, says report The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) has recommended promotion of crop diversification, favouring oilseed crops amid the global inflation in oilseeds and vegetable oils prices. Global inflation creates a structural risk as vegetable oils account for about half of India’s agricultural import, subsequently raising the country’s agri-import bill, the commission wrote in its...

-United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) A prolonged and deadly heatwave has hit large swaths of India and Pakistan affecting hundreds of millions of people and sparking food and energy shortages. Experts say the extreme heat is a grim preview of what the climate crisis has in store for a region home to over 1 billion people. Temperatures in India’s capital and parts of Pakistan have at times reached close to 50°C, killing...