-Business Standard Govt should revamp agricultural marketing to increase farmers' earnings and amend land-leasing laws Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has met farm sector representatives for pre-Budget consultations at a time Indian agriculture is passing through a bad patch - especially because of two years of consecutive drought. Predictably, therefore, most participants pitched for more credit on soft terms, higher minimum support prices (MSP) for crops and the expansion of irrigation facilities to...

-Livemint.com Wheat sowing is lower by 5.6%, pulses by nearly 7% and oilseeds shows a lag of nearly 12%, compared to the normal area sown by this time of the year New Delhi: An unusually dry and warm winter across northern India has impacted sowing of winter crops, even as the window for planting is nearing its end. While overall sowing of Rabi (winter) crops is lagging behind by 6% compared to...

-The Indian Express The farmers are under severe stress, with profitability in farming falling alarmingly. FY17 budget must boldly address the agriculture crisis. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his team are beginning pre-budget consultations with various stakeholders for the upcoming FY17 budget. Generally, the consultations start with agriculture, slated for January 4. It’s good practice and courteous to invite farm experts and farmers’ representatives. Often, one finds these meetings full of anguish...

-PTI Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday said the “unprecedented” northeast monsoon has killed 470 people and nearly a lakh livestock besides damaging crops in over 3.83 lakh hectares in the State. Detailing the large-scale destruction caused by heavy rains in four phases during October-December 2015, Ms. Jayalalithaa recalled her demand for a central assistance of Rs 25,912.45 crore for the relief and restoration works. Noting that the Central team of...

-Livemint.com The money came from the Centre, which in April revised the amount farmers get as relief for crop damage New Delhi: Two weeks before 2015 ended, 50-year-old Sukhrani received a new year’s gift from the Uttar Pradesh government. The local revenue officer visited her village in Banda district of Uttar Pradesh to hand out cheques to families whose winter crop was damaged due to unseasonal rains between February and April...