-DNA The government's lack of focus on agriculture shows its lopsided priorities. In the coming months, about 1.5 crore farmers who quit agriculture in the past seven years, are likely to trudge back into the villages. In normal circumstances such a massive reverse migration - from the cities back to the villages - would have been a sign of inclusive growth. But economists are taking this U-turn as a sign of...

-The Financial Express Unless we get it right on the markets front, including opening up of exports, farmers cannot get their full due One of the key objectives of agricultural price policy in India is to ensure that agriculture remains a remunerative occupation so that farmers are incentivised to adopt modern technologies that help raise productivity and overall production of various crops in the country broadly in line with the emerging demand...

-Grain.org "We take care of the cow and the cow takes care of us," says Marayal, a farmer in Thalavady, Tamil Nadu. Her two cows produce 6 to 10 litres of milk a day, which she sells for 30-40 cents per litre. Across India, there are millions of backyard dairy farmers like Marayal. Each owning just one or two cows, these farmers supply millions more families and hundreds of thousands of informal...

-The Hindu Farmers in this Rajasthan block blame the drastic fall in groundwater table on the bottling plant, saying it draws out far more water than can be naturally recharged KALADERA (GOVINDGARH): Till the late 1990s, Bansi Aheer, like all other farmers around Kaladera, used to irrigate his seven-bigha farm, drawing water from a well. "Water was easily available at about 40 feet. But it dropped annually by one or two feet...

-The Indian Express The environment ministry under Veerappa Moily has approved the $ 12.6 billion Posco steel plant in Orissa, the biggest foreign direct investment in India. The proposed 12 million-tonnes-per-year plant has been stuck for more than eight years due to delays in getting clearances and acquiring land. Top sources confirmed to The Indian Express that the steel plant got the green signal after it was delinked from the port project. It...