-The Indian Express The Rajasthan government, too, is providing a subsidy of Rs 2500 per quintal for certified seeds, besides a 50 per cent subsidy on micronutrient and bio-pesticides. Jaipur: Farmers in Rajasthan are looking towards pulses to reap, what seems for now, a double dividend from good southwest monsoon rains as well as remunerative prices. Sowing of kharif pulses — mainly moong, moth and urad — has already been completed in 22.75...

-The Indian Express The Modi government should spell out clearly what it wants to double by 2022 — nominal or real incomes. The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development’s (NABARD) 34th foundation day celebrations on July 12 saw a day-long deliberation on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for “doubling farmers’ incomes by 2022”. This was an event at Vigyan Bhavan in the national capital, where the ministries of agriculture and finance...

-The Indian Express The current bill does not take into account any of the criticism voiced against an earlier version, proposed under the UPA government in 2013; it continues to ignore the Forest Rights Act. A recent controversial bill that outlines a framework for the utilisation of compensatory afforestation funds is being strongly contested and challenged by civil society actors. It raises important questions that are fundamentally connected to forests: Whose...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: In chasing higher and higher GDP growth rates, India tends to gloss over two vital facts. One, farm growth cuts poverty twice as fast as industrial growth. Two, a 1% rise in agricultural output raises industrial production by 0.5% and national income by 0.7%, according to one calculation. In other words, the country’s fortunes are structurally tied to its farmers. Two-thirds of Indians rely on a farm-based income....

-Deccan Herald Buoyed by the incentives announced by the government, farmers appear to have taken up cultivation of pulses in a big way this year. New Delhi: According to the data released by the Agriculture Ministry, pulses acreage has increased 39% as compared to the same period last year. Sowing of coarse cereals and oil seeds has also increased but acreage of sugar cane and cotton has declined. The area under pulses cultivation was...