-The Times of India RUDRAPUR: Many of the over 700 factories in the industrial belt of Udham Singh Nagar have either slowed down production or opted for a short-term lock down due to problems in transport of goods and a dip in demand. Demonetisation of currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 has hit not just small industrial units but also giants like Parle and Britannia, many of which have...

-Frontline.in The PDS, the ICDS and the MDM schemes constitute lifelines for a vast majority of the population. Maternity entitlements need to be seen both as a right for women and as instruments in the battle against undernutrition. A government that ignores or undermines them does so at its own peril. THE GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX 2016 puts India at 97 out of 118 countries. The release of these numbers is great...

-The Indian Express The government has failed to provide the right incentives to farmers India’s quest for self-sufficiency in pulses goes back, at least, to 1990-1991, when pulses were incorporated in the technology mission on oilseeds. In 1992, and 1995-1996, oil palm and maize were added to the mission, which was re-christened the Integrated Scheme on Oilseeds, Pulses, Oil palm and Maize (ISOPOM). In 2007, ISOPOM’s pulses component was merged with...

-The Hindu Business Line Bihar village gives up fertilisers/ pesticides for eco-agriculture On World Environment Day last year — which happened to be one of the hottest summer mornings — as we stood on the main road roughly a kilometre from Kedia village, in the Jamui district of Bihar, we heard loud voices in the distance. Soon we found 50-60 children marching and shouting in unison, ‘Jeevit maati... jeevit khet!’ (alive is the...

-The Hindu Business Line The Government has several short and long-term strategies to achieve self-sufficiency Who can deny that pulses are at the core of the average Indian diet? Therefore, the NDA government’s multi-pronged short-term and long-term strategies to meet the growing consumption of pulses in the country — from importing to increasing production through new technologies, and making cultivation attractive to farmers — is to be welcomed. In fact, pulses play...