Edible oil imports have surged to a record 9.24 million tonnes last year and were estimated to be nearly Rs 38,000 crore. They have emerged as the third most important import item, next only to petroleum products and gold. India is now the world’s largest importer of cooking fats, meeting more than half of its requirement through overseas supplies. Considering the country’s huge and fast-growing demand for cooking oils, such...

Agricultural Debt Wavier and Debt Relief Scheme (ADWDRS-2008), which was introduced by the Union Government in 2008 to provide debt relief to farmers, has backfired in Chickballapur district. Under the belief that the Government would come out with a similar debt wavier/relief scheme in the future, a majority of farmers have stopped repaying fresh agricultural loans they have taken during 2008-09 and 2009-10, subsequent to the implementation of ADWDRS-2008. Thereby, many farmers,...

The Centre will send "monitors" to Madhya Pradesh to look into alleged financial irregularities worth crores of rupees in several works done under its flagship rural employment guarantee scheme.   Official sources said the action came after several non-government organisations and self-help groups approached Rural Development Ministry, nodal agency for executing work through under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA), regarding alleged corruption in the programme meant for people living...

The bacterial blight-resistant ‘samba masuri' variety paddy developed by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) here was successful in its field trials conducted in about 5,000 acres in Karnataka this year, Director of the premier research organisation Ch. Mohan Rao stated here on Friday. Addressing media persons as part of the CCMB's foundation day celebrations Mr. Rao said wide acceptance of the paddy variety in Shimoga and other areas...

For past several weeks, thousands of farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Bihar and Jharkhand have been left in the lurch. They had planted urd and til crops in a large acreage, and to their dismay no grain formation took place in the standing crop. Unable to bear the economic loss, at least four farmers have reportedly committed suicide. Thousands of farmers have been pushed deeper into economic distress....