-The Indian Express In Odisha, procurement of Paddy during the ongoing 2019-20 Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) is, for the first time, being done from registered farmers only after Aadhaar-based biometric authentication. FIRST IT was fertilisers, where the NDA government made disbursal of subsidy conditional upon actual sales to farmers getting registered on PoS (Point of Sale) machines in retail outlets. That reform measure — to ensure that the benefit of minimum support...
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Indian agriculture is under an invisible emergency -Devinder Sharma
-Down to Earth At a time when farmers strive to get the right price for crops, more money in their hands can help reignite the country's economy In 2019, three weeks after the kharif harvesting season began, reports emerged that farmers are selling their produce at a price way below the minimum support price (MSP) announced by the government. Except for a few crops like Paddy and maize, market prices for most...
More »Punjab groundwater crisis: What it will take to move from Paddy to maize -Anju Agnihotri Chaba
-The Indian Express At current rates of depletion, Punjab’s entire subsurface water resource could be exhausted in a little over two decades. Jalandhar: As the discussion around Punjab’s massive groundwater crisis becomes more urgent, there is an increasingly stronger accent on diversification of crops, and a move away from water-guzzling Paddy. At a meeting over the weekend, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, decided to strengthen maize — the most important alternative to...
More »For Haryana's farmers, MSP is only an illusion -Rajalakshmi Nirmal
-The Hindu Business Line Commission agents, who procure Paddy, pay less than the MSP. There is no moisture testing or correct weighment. Is there a nexus all round? It is widely perceived that MSP operations in Haryana are quite effective and farmers there are a happy lot. But the reality is quite different. In the last Paddy season, many farmers in Karnal’s Taraori, the largest grain mandi in Haryana, got only Rs.1,750/quintal...
More »Bhupesh Baghel goes back on Paddy MSP promise, blames Centre -Dipankar Ghose
-The Indian Express Earlier this month, Baghel met Union ministers, arguing that this leeway was given to the previous BJP government led by Raman Singh in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The Centre, however, has said that keeping the fiscal balance in mind, this is not possible. The Congress government in Chhattisgarh has said that it will acquire Paddy at the Centre-mandated MSP of just over Rs 1,800 per quintal this season, instead...
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