-The Indian Express The government has failed to provide the right incentives to farmers India’s quest for self-sufficiency in pulses goes back, at least, to 1990-1991, when pulses were incorporated in the technology mission on oilseeds. In 1992, and 1995-1996, oil palm and maize were added to the mission, which was re-christened the Integrated Scheme on Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil palm and Maize (ISOPOM). In 2007, ISOPOM’s pulses component was merged with...

-TheWire.in A study shows that lower the average income of a country, the lower is its consumption of fruits and vegetables. Nearly 60% of the people in low-income countries, including India, cannot afford the recommended daily intake of fruits and vegetables, research published in the British medical journal Lancet has concluded. Most nutritional guidelines recommend the consumption of at least two servings of fruits and three servings of vegetables per day. However, according...

-The Hindu The sense of impunity that drives discrimination against Dalits is at the heart of recent demands for the dilution, or even repeal, of the Act for prevention of atrocities against SCs and STs It is the sense of impunity nurTured by caste hierarchy that prepares the social ground for the “shockingly cruel and inhumane” crimes against Dalits called atrocities. It is this impunity that the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled...

-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. AgriculTure subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru/ Chennai: The disruption of road transport between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu over sharing of the Cauvery river water in the past few days has impacted the movement of commodities such as onions, poultry products, Turmeric, tea and tomatoes, among others. This has resulted in the price of perishables, mainly onions, falling as the new crop has started reaching markets in Southern Karnataka. “Onion prices are down by...