-The Economic Times Small and marginal farmers who constitute more than 80% of total farmer households in the country face exclusion from formal financial channels," says the Nair Committee on priority sector lending. The same report says "commercial banks have been prescribed targets since late 1960s for priority sector lending".  The banking system failed the farmers and the needy despite nationalisation, but is there a viable model that could help the millions...

-The Business Standard Use central funds to push agri-reform in states The agriculture ministry’s reported decision to tie the state-wise allocation of funds from the National Agriculture Development Plan (NADP) to the states’ progress on agri-marketing reforms seems likely to benefit both farmers and consumers. Yet the gains from releasing central assistance only conditionally could be substantially augmented. If the Centre is serious about reform, it should expand this conditionality to other...

Women farmers suffer gross bias a global meet will look to change this Nearly half of the agricultural work is handled by women in developing countries and India is no exception. Yet, strategies for the development of agriculture are directed primarily at men. Barely five per cent of the extension efforts and resources are targeted at farm women. This failing, predictably, costs a good amount owing to loss of a part...

Taking strong exception to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks against NGOs who opposed genetically modified crops and nuclear power plants, a group of eminent citizens said that it was a “highly inappropriate misrepresentation of facts.” In a strongly-worded letter to him, the group led by the former Supreme Court Judge, V.R. Krishna Iyer, and including the former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, A. Gopalakrishnan, said it was the government...

-PTI Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who has cited difficulties in implementing the Food Security Bill, today said there should not be any problem in rolling out the proposed law in the wake of record foodgrain output.  "This year, we will break last year's record by reaching 250 million tonnes of foodgrains," Pawar told reporters on the sidelines of Kharif Conference 2012 here.  "With this background, to implement the Food Security Bill, I don't...