The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has had an unintended side effect: a record rise in the consumption of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) among poor rural families, all thanks to the unprecedented sums of money that the scheme placed in their hands. And the politico-realtor lobby’s record bids for the two-year liquor licences across AP on Monday appears to be in the hope of reaping a bumper harvest...
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Population, incomes tilt India towards food imports
India's anxiety over erratic monsoon rains will become more acute as rising incomes and a growing population push up demand for farmed produce faster than supply, turning the nation into a major importer within 5 years. Forecasts of a normal monsoon this year have stirred hopes for smooth supplies and low inflation, reversing setbacks from last year's poor rains. But the country must boost yields if it is to feed...
More »User fee for water even in agri sector? by Prabhakar Sinha & Dipak Kumar Dash
Water may no longer be a free commodity even for the agriculture sector. In order to deal with an imminent water crisis that could haunt the country in the next few decades, the Centre has commissioned the Planning Commission to formulate a policy on integrated water management. Plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia told TOI that the document will be ready by September. Admitting that water crisis is more...
More »Water crisis of east & west Punjab by MS Gill
Both sides will have to rise above politics and focus on the water crisis, which requires difficult and bitter solutions. As the long hot summer sizzles, one's thoughts in Lahore and Amritsar turn to water. It is scarce on both sides of the border. When the British finally and fully took over the Punjab in 1849, their thoughts turned to the possibility of engineering for agriculture. In the 1860s, they...
More »Gujarat racing ahead in floriculture, horticulture by Virendra Pandit
Gujarat's business acumen and entrepreneurial zest is passé; the State's leap-frogging with 11 per cent agricultural growth, praised by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) last year, is old hat too. What is new is this: Gujarat may now export more ‘kesar', the famous mango variety of the State, to West Asia than Maharashtra sells alphonso; the State has entered Goa market with cashew nut; and an Ahmedabad-based part-time...
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