-Mid Day Mumbai: He has literally made waste fruitful. Kamlakar Sukhad Urhade, a tribal youth from Girgaon Bhujad Pada village in Talasari taluka has made a water pump out of discarded waste material. Urhade lost his father soon after he completed his education, and the responsibility of looking after his mother and two brothers fell on him. The family’s 5-6 acres of land yields rice, but only during the rainy season....

-The Financial Express Smart irrigation management steps, including harnessing social sector schemes for irrigation works, did the trick The spate of recent farmer suicides has once again drawn the country’s attention to the deepening agrarian crisis. Media is abuzz with opinions and expert advice on how to provide succour to the farming community. Oft-repeated among these is the demand to increase public investment in irrigation. However, we need to remember that, since 1990, public...

-Hindustan Times Good pre-monsoon showers— which have been either surplus or normal in nearly half of the country— have come as a boost for a crisis-ridden farm sector, bolstering prospects of sowing and easing some of the government’s worries.   The showers, aided by seasonal storms, have been sufficient to meet farmers’ requirements for planting key summer crops, prompting millions to head out to fields across states.   The rains have replenished 81 “nationally...

-Hindustan Times The NDA government is confident of winning over some naysayers by keeping its doors open to adopting a few changes they may propose to the contentious land bill that has been referred to a joint parliamentary panel, sources said. Their support will be crucial in the Rajya Sabha where the government lacks the numbers and will be equally important if a joint session of Parliament is called to clear the...

-Livemint.com The ministry of agriculture projected that foodgrain production of cereal and pulses was likely to decline by 5.3% in 2014-15 New Delhi: There seems to be no end rural India’s worries. Last year’s drought together with unseasonal weather earlier this year is threatening a substantial decline in foodgrain output—the first in five years of such magnitude. On Wednesday, the ministry of agriculture projected that foodgrain production—at 251 million tonnes (mt) of cereal...