-Down to Earth Every rupee spent on weather forecasting fetches 50-fold economic gains to below poverty line farming families   A survey by the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) has shown that timely delivery of weather advisories to farmers had a significant impact on their income. The survey was done to gauge the economic impact of India’s investments on the National Monsoon Mission (NMM) and High Performance Computing Facilities (HPC). It...

-The Tribune Distressed as they were, the final death blow is sought to be delivered in the agricultural reforms. Why not have MSP till a better alternative is found? Why let the oligarchs loose to prey on farmers? Was there a demand from farmers for these reforms? How has the Centre decided suo motu that this would benefit farmers? IT was the early 1960s and I spent two years in my ancestral...

-The Hindu First State to formally reject Centre’s 3 farm legislations Punjab on Tuesday became the first State in the country to formally reject theCentral government’s three agriculture sector legislations, with its Legislative Assembly on Tuesday unanimously passing three Bills to negate the Union laws. The Assembly passed a resolution rejecting the Central legislations and the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill and demanding their immediate annulment. It also sought an ordinance to protect the...

-The Indian Express In 2017, then Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojna, a farm loan waiver of Rs 35,000 crore for 89 lakh farmers. Mumbai: DESPITE various farmer welfare schemes, including a loan waiver in 2017, Maharashtra recorded 3,927 farmers’ suicide in 2019 — the highest in the country, which registered a total of 10,281 suicides in the farm sector last year, according to data...

-Economic and Political Weekly Agricultural market reforms recently enacted by the National Democratic Alliance government reflect the Bharatiya Janata Party’s determination to introduce agrobusinesses into agriculture and push further its agenda of centralisation of economic power and decision-making. The opposition to the reforms by farmers, many state governments, and regional political formations poses the most formidable challenge, so far, to this government. The contesting claims have missed the dimension of the...