-Livemint.com A growth-first approach may work in the short-term, but India needs to prioritize sustainability simultaneously The Union Budget 2016-17, seeking to “transform India”, has been hailed for its emphasis on agricultural growth and sustainability. Symbolically, the finance minister put “agriculture and farmers’ welfare” first in his nine-point agenda. The words “agriculture” and “farmer” found 20 and 32 mentions, respectively, in the budget speech, the highest in the last decade. On the...

-Down to Earth But boost in agriculture budget not enough, say experts Sensing the prevailing agriculture crisis, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley announced in the Union Budget that budgetary allocation for the agriculture and farmers’ welfare ministry will be increased 45 per cent compared to last year. The government has set aside an allocation of Rs 35,984 crore which is Rs 11,000 crore more than that of last year. (See table)....

-TheWire.in This year’s Union Budget markets itself as a pro-poor and pro-farmer budget. To take a closer and harder look at this, The Wire spoke to Ashok Gulati, chair professor for agriculture at ICRIER. Gulati tells The Wire why this budget is insignificant for reducing farmers’ distress, in spite of all the talk. Edited excerpts from the interview follow: * How much is the actual increase in the total allocation to agriculture...

-Down to Earth Revival will lead to an increase in the net irrigation potential Noting that poor irrigation capacity is impacting agriculture during two consecutive drought years, Economic Survey 2015-16 has suggested utilising the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for efficient revival and maintenance of community assets such as tanks and other water bodies. The work will include desilting and repair of water bodies used for irrigation. According to...

-TheHansIndia.com The ongoing drought is fuelling distress migration from districts in Telangana, a trend that was witnessed in the early 2000s. The severe drought conditions for the second consecutive year have led to crop failure, mounting debts, chronic unemployment and failure of the NREGA scheme, especially in the districts of Mahbubnagar, Medak, and Adilabad, forcing large-scale exodus of farmers and others.   The fruits of a people’s movement and the world’s largest anti-poverty...