-The Financial Express The minimum that the govt can do is to remove all restrictions on a free market for pulses Last year, roughly at this time, the price of tur dal (pigeon pea) in the retail market was hovering around R180/kg. Prices of other pulses were not far behind. They were all spiraling up due to back-to-back droughts during 2014-15 and 2015-16. Production of all pulses had plunged to 16.5 million...
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Post-note ban, Rs 35,000 crore cash stash flooded MP banks -Ankur Sirothia
-The Times of India BHOPAL: More than Rs 35,000 crore of stashed cash was pulled out of hidden lockers of corporates and individuals and deposited in 25 major banks within 60 days of demonetisation in Madhya Pradesh, reveal documents accessed by TOI. More than 40% of these accounts are under I-T surveillance, say sources. Money in Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana accounts rose by Rs 461 crore after the note ban —...
More »Direct action from the Budget mandates must reflect ground realities -Purvi Mehta
-The Economic Times blog In every Union Budget presentation, agriculture is given a place of prominence. This is not surprising, given that 50% of India’s population is dependent on agriculture. Budget 2017 was no different. Both the Economic Survey and the Budget speech stressed heavily on improving agricultural infrastructure and augmenting farmer incomes. The key drivers expected to set this off are areas such as investment in irrigation infrastructure, development of mandis...
More »Ryot Empowerment: Giving effective voice to rural producers through FPOs
-The Indian Express Farmer producer organisations have truly taken off. Now’s the time to create their own lobbying platform. In the summer of 2011, as the managing director of the Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC), an autonomous society under the Union Agriculture Ministry, I addressed a group of Uttar Pradesh government officials in Lucknow. My hosts politely sat through my presentation and near-evangelical pitch, as I pushed the idea of promoting farmer...
More »New midday meal norms 'inhuman'
-The Hindu Teachers, Anganwadi workers speak out against Centre’s decision Jaipur: Teachers and Anganwadi workers in Rajasthan have spoken out against the Centre's recent decision to link the midday meal scheme to Aadhaar, saying it would completely disrupt the process of food distribution and teaching and learning. They said it would create an “inhuman culture” where children would be denied food due to exclusion through biometrics. While responding to queries of the Right to...
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