-howindialives.com/ Livemint.com The recent protests by the Marathas might have roots in the declining returns from farming across Maharashtra between 2006-07 and 2014-15 Falling farm incomes in rural Maharashtra might be an important factor fuelling the current spate of protests by the Marathas, who are demanding reservation in educational institutions and government jobs. The net returns from farming, or Wholesale Prices minus costs of production, declined for most of the major crops...

-The Indian Express The procurement process also faced several allegations of corruption and favouritism. However, even months after the concerns were raised, the government is yet to take any action on them, reveals the RTI. Pune: Across party lines, political leaders had raised questions about the process to procure over 3 lakh tonnes of tur by the National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd, or NAFED, last year, revealed response to...

  The Central Water Commission (CWC) has released the state-wise and national-level annual data on human and economic costs associated with floods or excessive rainfall for the last 64 years at a time when the North East is devastated by nature's fury. That data indicates that on an average 3.2 crore Indians were affected by floods or excessive rainfall every year between 1953 and 2016. Floods or downpours took a heavy toll...

-Livemint.com According to Nafed, the central agency assigned to procure directly from farmers at government-set MSP, 6.34 million tonnes of pulses and oilseeds were purchased from about 3.5 million farmers till 22 June New Delhi: The central government procured a record Rs29,070 crore worth of pulses and oilseeds from farmers at minimum support prices (MSPs) in the 2017-18 crop season, arresting what could have been a sharper fall in Wholesale Prices. The procurement...

-Hindustan Times Profitability takes a hit as real MSPs have not risen over the years New Delhi: Most commentary around rural anger in India has been focused on either the sector’s growth performance or government spending on agriculture. Such analysis is likely to present an incomplete picture at best. Government spending on agriculture is a small fraction of the total agricultural economic output. In 2017-18, the ministry of agriculture’s spending was less...