-PTI The decision was taken by a consortium of banks which held a meeting in New Delhi. Some thirty odd bankers led by State Bank of India, which are staring at heavy losses to the tune of Rs 12,000 crore from the unfolding food scam in Punjab, on Monday discussed all options, including to stop lending to the state government. The decision was taken by a consortium of banks which held a meeting...

-The Hindu Business Line A national platform for agri-produce can be a game-changer. But persuading States is key Most political regimes in India brand themselves as pro-farmer, and so it is ironic that the country’s market for agricultural produce is among its least liberalised. Given the perishable nature of agri-produce, the farmer is already up against structural constraints such as lack of scale economies and the rudimentary state of storage and logistics...

-The Hindu Forging gram sabha resolutions clears the path to lucrative mining... Such fictions manufacture on file the legal requirement of villagers’ participation and consent. Over 12,000 villages across Odisha conserve their community forests, says a 2013 Odisha Jungle Manch study. In a visit last October to seven villages in Keonjhar district’s Gandhamardan range, Munda communities showed me their forest protection rosters. Each roster listed four villagers for every weekday to roam...

-Business Standard Instead of addressing systemic problems in agriculture, farm politics in the state is about how much money the government can offer the farmer as a dole The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), led by Parkash Singh Badal and son Sukhbir, was in a dilemma a year before the 2012 Assembly elections in Punjab. The Akalis had ruled Punjab since 2007 but no party had ever returned to power for a second...

-Business Standard Digitisation of supply chain for BPL beneficiaries can save Rs 1,080 crore a year but much needs to be done to plug leakages Hyderabad: In this state of information technology professionals, now even a village woman knows how the malfunctioning server in Hyderabad can affect the delivery of subsidised foodgrain to her. Technical snags can make the queues longer at fair price shops in Andhra Pradesh, even a year after the...