-PTI Minister says in line with rising temperatures across the globe, all India mean temperatures have risen nearly 0.60 degree Celsius over the last 110 years New Delhi: India’s temperature has risen by nearly 0.60 degree Celsius over the last 110 years and extreme events like heat waves have increased in the last 30 years, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Monday. “According to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), in line with rising...

-Hindustan Times Dhanaura (Bulandshahr): Every Wednesday, until two weeks ago, farmers from Dhanaura, adjoining villages and beyond would sell at least 500 spent (no longer productive) buffaloes to meat traders at this licenced weekly market in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr, about 80 km from Delhi. Not anymore. On March 29, the second Wednesday since the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government launched its crackdown on illegal slaughterhouses, it was not business as usual at...

-Livemint.com In the case of repeated farm loan waivers, it makes sense for borrowers to default strategically Hope: The Narendra Modi government says it wants to double farm income by 2022 through the transformation of Indian Agriculture. Reality: The political discourse continues to focus perversely on farm loan waivers. Here are some recent instances. The new Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh is considering a farm loan waiver as promised in its election...

-PRS Legislative Research The key findings of the report entitled: State of Agriculture in India by Tanvi Deshpande (March, 2017) are as follows: * The Agriculture sector employs nearly half of the workforce in the country.  However, it contributes to 17.5% of the GDP (at current prices in 2015-16). * Over the past few decades, the manufacturing and services sectors have increasingly contributed to the growth of the economy, while the Agriculture sector’s...

-Firstpost.com Putting state governments that promised loan waivers for farmers in difficulty, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday ruled out such waivers by the Centre insisting states can utilise their own resources in this regard. He clarified that the Centre will not adopt a selective approach by helping one state and not the others. The move is likely to put even BJP governments, including Devendra Fadnavis administration in Maharashtra and the newly...