-Deccan Herald Hassan: Food and Civil Supplies Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said the department was chalking out various plans like supplying ragi and jowar to the ration card holders, which would be finalised soon. Addressing media persons after inspecting the maize procurement centre and the godowns at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee yard during his visit to Hassan, on Tuesday, he said that the department had been purchasing ragi, providing support...

-The Indian Express The Centre is reportedly considering decontrol of urea over a period of three years, at the end of which retail prices would be totally market-determined, with farmers getting a fixed per-bag subsidy to be credited directly to their bank accounts. If this happens, it will probably be the most politically challenging economic reform the Narendra Modi government undertakes. Given the crash in global oil prices, decontrol of diesel...

-The Indian Express After petrol and diesel, the Narendra Modi government is looking next to deregulate urea. In the works is a three-year plan to decontrol the maximum retail price (MRP) of this fertiliser - currently fixed at Rs 5,360 a tonne or Rs 268 per 50-kg bag - alongside permitting duty-free imports sans any canalisation or restrictions, and credit the subsidy directly into the bank accounts of farmers. Urea imports now...

-The Indian Express It's likely that India's crop production this year will be lower compared to 2013-14, given deficient rains both in the southwest (June-September) and northeast (October-December) monsoons impacting kharif as well as rabi plantings. But that by itself needn't be cause for concern. We have seen one-off farm output declines even in 2009-10, 2004-05 and 2002-03, which were also drought years. What should worry us more, instead, is the...

-Down to Earth The situation of India's farmers has only become grimmer in the past decade, according to the latest National Sample Survey Office report The lot of the embattled Indian farmer only keeps on getting worse with the passage of time. In the last 10 years, the voluminous debt of Indian agricultural households has increased almost four-fold whereas their undersized monthly income from cultivation has increased three-fold. Even the number of...