-The Hindu Business Line A long-range forecast is not authoritative, but sets the mood for farmers, industry New Delhi: After two consecutive years of drought, the monsoon this year promises to be above normal, going by an early forecast. A long-range weather forecast by climate management company Weather Risk Management Services indicates that the monsoon this year may end up 5 to 10 per cent above normal — with well-distributed rainfall over the...

-The Hindu Business Line BusinessLine goes to villages, including those visited in 2014, to understand the progress of the ambitious National Optical Fibre Network. Unused infrastructure and low awareness tell a story of missed links In one corner of the Ramnagar village panchayat office, in Panisagar block of Tripura, is a defunct four-year-old computer. The machine, connected with a 10 mbps broadband line was supposed to bring digital services to this remote...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: NITI Aayog, the government's premier think-tank, is set to introduce a model law on land lease that will not only improve agricultural efficiency but also quicken the pace of industrialisation. The model law will offer flexibility to land owners and tenants to decide on the term of lease and rent, thus making it simpler for the government to lease land for public-private partnership projects in sectors other...

-The Indian Express Yes, except that farmers suffer rules other businessmen never encounter Agriculture is said to be India’s largest private-sector enterprise, engaging nearly 119 million farmers (“cultivators”) and another 144 million landless labourers, as per the 2011 Census. It is even considered the most respectable business, going by the oft-quoted slogan “uttam kheti, madhyam vyapar, kanishtha naukri (supreme is farming, mediocre is trade and most lowly is service)”. But the exalted...

-The News Minute/ IndiaSpend Efficient agricultural markets can also be a potent tool for poverty reduction “We are grateful to our farmers for being the backbone of the country’s food security. We need to think beyond food security and give back to our farmers a sense of income security. Government will, therefore, reorient its interventions in the farm and non-farm sectors to double the income of the farmers by 2022.” —Finance...