-The Hindu Business Line This method is more productive and cost effective in agriculture, which accounts for 80% of the water consumed Water scarcity has now reached a new level in India. While severe drinking water scarcity is noticed commonly everywhere, Farmers are facing a lot of difficulties in cultivating crops with reduced water availability in different regions. What is worrying is that water scarcity is expected to aggravate further in the...

-The Financial Express When several NGOs and others protested against the GEAC report, the UPA's environment minister, Jairam Ramesh decided not to give the final go-ahead. As Farmers under the umbrella of the Shetkari Sangathana start their civil disobedience movement and plant the banned Herbicide Tolerant (HT) GM seeds as well as Bt brinjal, chances are the authorities will treat this as yet another law and order issue and will arrest them;...

-The Indian Express While procurement has become popular among Farmers, insufficient collection is forcing the government to shell out hundreds of crores every year for rice imports while they have got all the rice right at home. Tripura’s BJP-led state government is procuring 10,000 MT paddy from Farmers at Minimum Support Price (MSP) starting Monday, even as the Centre’s Food Corporation of India (FCI), which procured paddy for the first time...

-Economic and Political Weekly The changes in Odisha’s agriculture made paddy production a losing proposition, especially for the small Farmers who leased in land. Substantial decline in farm income caused by exploitative land lease arrangements, denial of access to a regulated market, crop failures, increased cost of cultivation, and indebtedness pushed these Farmers into severe economic hardship and an inhospitable social environment, which ultimately led to their suicides. Please click here to read more....

-The Indian Express Methodological changes have led to overestimating GDP growth by 2.5 percentage points per year between 2011-12 and 2016-17. Actual growth is around 4.5 per cent. The promise of democracy is the periodic opportunity it creates for fresh beginnings. A government re-elected with such a resounding mandate should continue with the successful aspects of its economic policies. The most notable has been promoting economic inclusion via the public provision of...