-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...

-IPS News NAGAPATNAM, India - Standing amidst his lush green paddy fields in Nagapatnam, a coastal district in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a farmer named Ramajayam remembers how a single wave changed his entire life. The simple farmer was one of thousands whose agricultural lands were destroyed by the 2004 Asian tsunami, as massive volumes of saltwater and metre-high piles of sea slush inundated these fertile fields in the...

-The Hindu Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu): Efforts are under way to procure pulses, including black gram and green gram, directly from farmers in the district. These pulses would be procured with the help of the Tamil Nadu Cooperative Marketing Federation at fair price from farmers to avoid middlemen, Collector M. Ravikumar said here on Monday. The procured pulses would be marketed through farm fresh vegetable outlet and also despatched to markets in Chennai. The...

-The Hindu Business Line But manufacturers want subsidy regime to end in order to improve production Kolkata: To curb black-marketing in urea, the Centre in December released a "record" 3.7 million tonnes (mt) into the market, by stepping up imports. The usual monthly requirement of the fertiliser, whose supply is regulated, is 2.5-3 mt. The demand for urea peaks towards end December and early January. India produces approximately 22 mt of urea against the...

-The Indian Express In an article in these columns (‘A fertile mess', IE, December 11), Ashok Gulati says India has landed its fertiliser industry in a mess because of rising subsidies, lagging investment, unbalanced use of fertilisers and diversion of urea for other uses, among other things. He blames it all on administered pricing and subsidy costs, and advocates the increase of urea prices or cash transfer of the fertiliser subsidy...