-The Pioneer In yet another demonstration of commitment to its inclusive agriculture growth agenda, the Government of Odisha has announced the BALARAM Yojana to provide crop loans worth more than Rs 1,000 crore to the landless sharecroppers through joint liability groups (JLGs) in the next two years. Lauded as one of the most inclusive income support/cash transfer schemes in the country, KALIA was announced in 2019 to help the small and marginal...

-The Hindu Business Line While proposals on agri-warehousing and viability-gap funding are positive, MGNREGA cutbacks could have been avoided The Economic Survey had a full chapter on agriculture and food management issues, highlighting the role of agricultural GDP; Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, mechanisation of agriculture, farm credit, crop insurance, agri research and education, including in allied sectors such as livestock and fisheries, food processing and agricultural trade, besides rationalisation of food...

-Press release by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) dated 1st February, 2020 New Delhi, February 1st 2020: A thorough analysis of the Budget shows that even though the Budget speech spoke much about Agriculture and Rural sector and a 16-point program, the allocations for the Rural Economy were in fact slashed in this Budget compared to previous year. The Budget allocation for Agriculture, Allied sectors and Irrigation in 2020-21...

-Financial Express A study by ICRIER researchers Ashok Gulati and Pritha Banerjee shows how problematic the fertiliser policy is—for farmers, industry, the environment and the government. India’s experience with fertilisers, in the later part of the Green Revolution, prompted it to adopt a policy of subsidising fertilisers. In 1977, the country had a total NPK (nitrogenous, phosphatic and potassic) fertiliser consumption of 4.3 million metric tonnes (mmt) and per hectare usage...

-Hindustan Times The scheme launched to give more subsidies to farmers will prefer women for benefits for gender mainstreaming in agriculture, said officials Jaipur: The Rajasthan government will focus on women farmers in a new subsidy scheme for livelihood improvement, said officials. The scheme launched to give more subsidies to farmers will prefer women for benefits for gender mainstreaming in agriculture, the officials added. The scheme will be run by the water resources department...