-The Hindu Business Line Calls for restructuring Nafed for effective procurement of pulses, oilseeds   Bengaluru: The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) has made a pitch for encouraging water use efficiency in agriculture. As part of its non-price policy recommendations for kharif 2015-16, the crop advisory body has suggested that States fix quantitative ceilings on per hectare use of both water and electricity. The farm sector accounts for about 83 per cent...

-The Hindu Two years after vociferously arguing for an expansion of the provisions of the National Food Security Act, the BJP in government is bleeding it with a thousand cuts, both fiscal and otherwise When Parliament passed the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in 2013, it had already become one of the most debated pieces of legislation in decades. Those for and against it had fought it out across yards of space...

-Deccan Herald Children to get foodgrain, cooking cost as per FSA New Delhi: Schoolchildren may soon be entitled to supply of foodgrain along with cooking cost in case the midday meal is not served, with the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry finalising modalities for giving them food security allowance, mandatory under the Food Security Act. At a national level consultation held by the ministry in Meghalaya recently on preparation of rules for granting...

-Livemint.com   Sharp agriculture growth is a necessary factor to beat anti-incumbency The modest price hike in minimum support prices of some crops this week has been lauded as good economics. But the question that will be haunting the government is whether it has done enough to alleviate the distress in rural areas, especially when the Bihar polls later this year are seen as a litmus test for the rule of the...

-The Indian Express The average days of employment provided per household, too, fell to 40.01 from 45.97 in 2013-14 and 46.20 in 2012-13. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public barbs against its being a “living proof” of 60 years of Congress misrule, to a proposal now for extending the annual work entitlement to 150 days in drought-affected areas, the BJP-led government’s disposition towards the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA)...