-Hindustan Times A 2001 law protects Farmers’ interests. But the seeds bill neutralises many of the enabling measures granted in it There is a draft seeds bill awaiting Parliament, which seeks to replace the old Seed Act of 1966. A law regulating seed production and trade is needed to ensure that Farmers are protected against spurious seeds, and that seed producers are obliged to put only seeds of good and reliable quality...

-Financial Express A study by ICRIER researchers Ashok Gulati and Pritha Banerjee shows how problematic the fertiliser policy is—for Farmers, industry, the environment and the government. India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers. In 1977, the country had a total NPK (nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic) fertiliser consumption of 4.3 million metric tonnes (mmt) and per hectare usage...

-The Hindu Such an ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of schemes meant to help them Who is a farmer? What is the government’s definition of a farmer and how many Farmers are there in India by that definition? Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar failed to answer that question when it was asked in Parliament last week. The government’s ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of the...

-Down to Earth The multinational had sued four Farmers in April, triggering a controversy that has now been reignited Farmers in Gujarat have sowed a variety of potato seeds registered by multinational PepsiCo, in a symbolic protest against the food and beverage corporation, a farmer leader told Down To Earth (DTE). “In the last four days, more than 500 Farmers have come forward to sow the FC-5 variety of seeds which our organisation...

-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...