-TheWire.in The Modi government is pushing insurance schemes in both health and agriculture. But are they really making a difference? How successful, effective and equitable is insurance as a state policy? Does it address what it is meant to address in the first place, be it in health or agriculture? How does it handle systemic risk, which is essentially uninsurable? Does it also present a lost opportunity for improving the delivery of...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...

-The Tribune Contract farming is a much-needed vehicle to bring new crops, technologies, and markets to farmers. However, the new model Act 2018 opens up agricultural markets to contracting agencies without adequate safeguards for farmers. The first attempt at reforms in agricultural markets was made by the union government with the design of a model Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in 2003 which provided for new market channels for farmers and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Toxic smoke from a blaze at the Okhla Landfill is causing health problems among local residents and patient parties at the ESI hospital that is almost bordering the site. The situation was so bad on Tuesday that some drivers at a nearby DTC bus depot complained of sickness. Though the operations were not affected, residents said the efforts to check the smoke from spreading into the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The agriculture ministry on Tuesday released the Model Contract Farming Act, 2018, which lays emphasis on protecting the interests of farmers, considering them as weaker of the two parties entering into a contract. The ministry says that it is a promotional and facilitative Act and not regulatory in its structure. In addition to contract farming, services contracts all along the value chain, including pre-production, production and post-production,...