-The Indian Express The farmers are under severe stress, with profitability in farming falling alarmingly. FY17 budget must boldly address the agriculture crisis. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team are beginning pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders for the upcoming FY17 budget. Generally, the consultations start with agriculture, slated for January 4. It’s good practice and courteous to invite farm experts and farmers’ representatives. Often, one finds these meetings full of anguish...

-PTI New Delhi: Wheat production in India, the world’s second-largest producer, is likely to fall below 90 million tonnes for the second year in a row in 2015-16 due to an unusually dry and warm winter. Wheat output had declined to 88.95 mt in 2014-15 due to a poor monsoon and unseasonal rains in February-March, as against a record 95.85 mt achieved in the previous year. Sowing of wheat, a major rabi (winter)...

-Business Standard The government is holding talks with states providing cashless health insurance, such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat After providing life cover and accident cover, the government is now working on a universal health insurance plan. To begin with, it will provide a seamless solution to the existing cashless health schemes in states by integrating those with the Centre's direct benefits transfer (DBT) platform. Later, these would be scaled up. "Encouraged...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India's horticulture output has outpaced the production of foodgrains third year in a row in 2014-15 despite deficit monsoon, unseasonal rains and hailstorms. Besides, horticulture production also showed continuous increase unlike foodgrain output which reported a decline in 2014-15 as compared to 2013-14. The figures are part of the horticultural statistics, released by the agriculture ministry on Thursday. The report - Horticultural Statistics at a Glance...

-The Hindu Ahmedabad: With less than normal monsoon this year, Gujarat is set to face a major water crisis in summer as most of the dams and reservoirs in the State have less than 50 per cent storage. Chief Minister Anandiben Patel has already declared that the farmers should not demand water for irrigation this year as the available water will be used only for drinking. Except the Narmada dam in south...