-Business Standard Marriages on hold, children being returned from schools over unpaid fees; the rural economy is bearing the brunt of unseasonal rains, a crisis in the sugar cane sector and a fall in prices of farm pro Hapur/ Meerut: In the mid-afternoon, when most farmers are returning home to rest, Rana Ranjit Singh is sweating buckets on his farm in Uttar Pradesh's Hapur district, searching for vegetables left undamaged after untimely...

-The Times of India Silently, agriculture in India has gone through a far-reaching change in the past few decades. The share of human power available for carrying out the myriad operations in farming has shrunk to a mere 5% as has that of draught animals, the iconic oxen pulling the plough. More than 90% of the power is now drawn from mechanical sources: tractors and power tillers provide the bulk, 47%;...

-PTI Chandigarh: Punjab's farming sector has expressed disappointment over the Union Budget for not taking "pro-farmers" decision to provide much-needed fillip to the state's agriculture which has been suffering with "high" input cost and "lower" output prices. Even the farm experts have also expressed displeasure with the budget for not announcing any financial assistance to Punjab to promote crop diversification as state's wheat-paddy production has reached saturation point, besides taking a toll...

-PTI Chandigarh: Punjab government on Friday asked the Centre to reconsider its decision of stopping foodgrain procurement by FCI from Punjab, saying it will prove to be "very harmful" for the farming community and could lead to "distress selling". "The Centre's move of stopping procurement of foodgrain from states like Punjab could prove to be very harmful for state growers as they could be denied of appropriate prices of their crop (in...

-Financial Chronicle From the inner recesses of Chattisgarh to the upper crevices of Sikkim, a look at how MGNREGA initiatives are changing lives The large blackboard outside the police station reads like a rate list. There are different monetary awards for Naxalites' surrender with different weaponry, the highest, Rs 4.5 lakh, for surrender with a light machine gun, Rs 3 lakh with an AK 47, and only Rs 30,000 with a 12...