-The Financial Express It is clear from global experience that crop insurance is not economically viable and, in a country like India which is dominated by small landholders, it does not even seem to be feasible The demand for crop insurance stems from two ‘risky’ situations that often erode farmers’ income and make them vulnerable to economic distress. These include unpredictable weather and volatile prices. Although vulnerability of Indian agriculture on weather-related...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: At a time when fears of another drought year are looming large, an RTI application filed by TOI has revealed that the quantity of foodgrains damaged in Food Corporation of India godowns across the country recorded a drastic jump over the last two years when the country lost more than 40,000 tonnes. Though the losses are attributed to natural calamities like Cyclone and floods, experts say...

-The Hindu The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) has generated more rural employment than any other government scheme or private initiative in the history of independent India. At the same time, it has also generated a great deal of controversy over its merits and demerits. It would be fair to say that the policy establishment in the country right now is not favourably disposed towards the MGNREGA, with the...

-Business-Standard Even funds for disaster relief being impeded when these come from international bodies Late last year, Caritas India, a venerable and respected voluntary organisation that has responded with alacrity to one Indian humanitarian crisis after another, sent out an appeal through its international network for funds for contributions to relief and rehabilitation work in Jammu and Kashmir, where devastating floods and landslides in September had claimed 282 lives and damaged 2.53...

-PTI New Delhi: The risk of hunger and malnutrition could increase by 20 per cent due to climate change by 2050, endangering the lives of millions of people, a UN agency has warned. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says climate change is making disasters, such as floods and droughts, more frequent and intense, land and water more scarce and difficult to access, and increases in agricultural productivity even harder to...