-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-NDTV.com One of the biggest roadblocks in providing adequate and timely funds to MSMEs is the non-availability of reliable and consolidated data about them Though government runs a host of schemes to support micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which have faced the maximum brunt of the Coronavirus-induced lockdown in 2020, providing them timely and adequate funds becomes a roadblock, a fact which has been acknowledged even by the Finance Ministry. Funds are...

-Down to Earth Since its launch in 2016, India’s flagship crop insurance scheme has seen a consistent fall in acreage and number of farmers covered Even if a single farmer’s crop is damaged in a village he will get the benefits of insurance  - Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said while launching the government’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Madhya Pradesh in 2016. The words, however, mean nothing to the farmers...

-The Hindu Business Line A host of initiatives in the Budget should make the sector vibrant Budget 2022 seeks to double farmers’ income by building a robust system that enables easier access to finance, the marketplace and new-age technology. The government has allocated a sizeable amount for rural infrastructure development. This will help farmers get better access to the marketplace National Federation of State Co-operative Banks (NAFSCOB) data of 2019-20 shows that around...

-The Hindu ‘Neither are the reasons specified nor a resolution process put in place’ Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh): About 15.2 lakh farmers in Andhra Pradesh are deprived of the payment instalments under the Centrally-sponsored ‘PM Kisan Samman Nidhi’ that provides input subsidy to them. As part of the scheme, the farmers will receive a sum of ₹6,000 per agricultural year in three instalments of ₹2,000 each and the transfer of the 10th instalment is...