-Livemint.com The most glaring implication of the proposed deficiency payments is that it makes the state give up its responsibility of intervening in markets During the past few months, there has been a highly contested debate on the merits, viability and feasibility of crop insurance in India given the large number of small farmers and the large amount of subsidy involved that is not being effectively used as the coverage of...

-Livemint.com In 1986, Italian journalist Carlo Petrini was outraged when McDonald’s opened its first outlet in Rome. He saw this as a threat to Italy’s culinary culture. He led a protest against the global industrialization of food, which culminated in the slow food movement. Starting in Rome, the movement is now a worldwide phenomenon. Edited excerpts from an interview at the Indigenous Terra Madre in Shillong: * What are the key achievements...

-Livemint.com The govt did increase compensation for crop damage to 50% and even relaxed norms for claims but farmers will get less than a fifth of what they have lost to drought New Delhi: In April, Narendra Modi announced an increase in compensation for crop damage, a move the prime minister termed as a landmark decision and one that will impose a great burden on his government. His announcement followed unseasonal...

-Livemint.com Effective policy changes at the state-level are needed as this is where the problem and its solutions lie—and not in a National Agricultural Market There have been many attempts at alleviating the pain of the farmer in India, be it natural calamities or market risks, but nothing seems to work, and the problems of farmer distress and indebtedness continue to grow. For some time now, there has been a focus...

-Voice of America NEW DELHI: Unseasonable rains and hailstorms have damaged wide swathes of crops in India, one of the world’s biggest producers of commodities such as wheat. The government has promised to enhance compensation for millions of farmers, who are staring at huge losses. Rains lashed much of India through March -- normally the time when dry weather and rising temperatures ripen the wheat crop, making it ready to harvest. Besides wheat,...