Rice procurement has crossed 27 million tonnes in 2009-10, down by about three per cent over the last year's due to low production. Food Corporation of India (FCI), the nodal agency for procurement and distribution of foodgrains, and state agencies had procured 27.93 million tonnes of rice in the corresponding period of the previous marketing year, which runs from October to September. The Centre had procured a record 33.68 million tonnes of...
More »SEARCH RESULT
‘Government responsible for 68 farmers' suicide’
The Krushak Morcha of the BJP today held the Government responsible for the suicide of 68 farmers in the State. Passing several resolutions in the first State executive committee meeting here, the farmers wing of the party attributed the suicide cases to the faulty agricultural policies of both the State and Central governments. Alleging that farmers have been committing suicide due to crop loss and increasing loan burden, the resolution said that...
More »Government-led inflation
Food inflation remains extraordinarily high at 17.79%. The government emphasises supply problems caused by last year’s drought, But a bigger and less reversible problem is government-led inflation through big increases in the Minimum Support Prices (MSP). The MSP for wheat and paddy rose only modestly between 2002-03 and 2005-06 , from Rs 620 to Rs 650/ quintal and from Rs 530 to Rs 570/quintal respecticely. But after that the MSP shot...
More »Vision 2010: a dangerous myopia by Amiya Kumar Bagchi
The Central budget of 2010-11 is a further step in the realisation of a vision of India vibrant with the income, wealth, saving, education and the entrepreneurial energy of the top 5-10 per cent of the population and the rest of Indians, serving that minority and surviving as barely literate, malnourished multitude. With the accession of Rajiv Gandhi to power, a vision began to germinate. That vision was that of...
More »See, No Powder by Madhavi Tata
* State-promoted organic farming has picked up in a big way in Andhra Pradesh * The CMSA programme was initiated in 2004 across a mere 400 acres in 12 villages. * Today, it covers 17 lakh acres in over 4,000 villages in the state. The number of farmers participating in CMSA has risen to more than 6 lakh. Call it going back to the roots. Or call it giving the...
More »