-The Hindu Confining it to just the Ministry of Rural Development would be the most retrograde step in democratic decentralisation in over a quarter century. If, as The Hindu’s exclusive on Wednesday indicates, Prime Minister Narendra Modi were to close down the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, it would confirm one’s worst fears about his government’s hypocritical approach to grass-roots democracy for grass-roots development. This was a lacuna that was evident in the ‘Gujarat...

-Scroll.in The government is calling it 'semi-scarcity'. In barren Saurashtra, farmers say that water promised to them from the Narmada project has not been reliable. For almost three years, bathing has been a luxury for Manjuben Jhala. The 50-year-old Dairy farmer from Sowarada village has spent all her summer days herding cattle across the barren landscape of Gujarat’s Jamnagar district, in search of fodder and a few scoops of water for her frail...

-The Indian Express NDA’s existing agricultural policies are ill-equipped to achieve the stated goal of doubling them in five years. As the Narendra Modi government completed two years in office, almost each arm of government issued hordes of advertisements celebrating achievements and delineating policies and programmes that were transforming India. The ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare came out with a big picture of PM Modi, spelling out 10 points reflecting the...

-Business Standard FY10 was a drought year with a monsoon rainfall deficiency of 22 per cent of the 50-year average, resulting in a seven per cent dip in the total foodgrains production. But, that did not dampen the consumer sentiment as the auto sector grew by 26 per cent, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) 25 per cent and the consumer durables sector by 21 per cent. The momentum continued the following year,...

-Business Standard The first two years of the Narendra Modi government were marked by big announcements that will take their time to materialise. The one sector that is unfazed by slogans is agriculture. The sector is crippled by back-to-back droughts coupled with a record fall in farm prices. A slump in global markets meant that agriculture exports, which could provide farmers alternative revenue, dried up. Agriculture and processed food exports from India...