-The Hindu Says Centre prepared to set up facilities for procurement The government is prepared to create all the facilities and infrastructure needed to procure Foodgrains, even as the Cabinet prepares to hike Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for kharif crops, Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan said. The Union Cabinet is expected to meet on Wednesday, and approve MSPs for 23 crops at 1.5 times the input costs. For MSPs to be implemented...

-The Hindu Business Line In view of the distortions arising out of excessive price support, direct income transfers to farmers is a better option The domestic debate has tended to conclude that the rise in MSP announced in the Budget is an essential part of achieving the government’s objective of doubling farm incomes. But MSP stands for minimum support prices and is an instrument designed for reducing income volatility, not for raising...

-PTI New Delhi: The Centre today asked state governments to provide home delivery of highly subsidised Foodgrains to the PDS beneficiaries to avoid instances of starvation death. These were among other reforms the state governments have been asked to pursue urgently in order to strengthen the public distribution system (PDS) — also called ration shops. The matter was discussed in detail with state food ministers meeting here in the national capital. “We...

The country’s agrarian sector in the last financial year expanded at almost half the rate at which it grew in 2016-17, shows the recently released provisional estimates by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). As compared to a growth rate of 6.3 percent witnessed in 2016-17, the growth rate in real Gross Value Added (GVA) by the agrarian sector (i.e., increase in agricultural GVA after neutralizing the effect of price inflation)...

-Livemint.com While there are several creditable achievements, it is the deeper structural reforms where expectations from a strong government have not been met Amidst expectations of a magical transformation of the Indian economy, the Narendra Modi government took over the reins in May 2014. During the election campaign, people were led to believe that the Gujarat model of agricultural development, which delivered 8% growth in agriculture during fiscal years 2003-14, would be...