-The Financial Express Higher output of rice, wheat and pulses to soften retail prices Supported by normal monsoon last year and more than normal kharif and rabi sowing, the country’s foodgrain production in 2016-17 crop year is estimated to increase by 8% from the previous year to record 272 million tonne (mt). According to the second advance estimates of production of major crops — rice, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and sugarcane for the crop...

-The Indian Express According to the agriculture ministry’s second advance estimates of crop production for this year, total foodgrain output will surpass the previous all-time-high of 2013-14. India’s production of foodgrains and oilseeds is expected to hit record levels in 2016-17 on the back of a normal southwest monsoon and a decent winter, which would more than offset the impact, if any, of demonetisation. According to the agriculture ministry’s second advance estimates of...

-The Financial Express Barley has 5.66% soluble fibre per 100 grams, the highest among cereals consumed in India, while parboiled, milled rice has 0.76% and atta or wheat flour, 1.63%. Gooseberry (amla) is the richest source of vitamin C (252 mg per 100 grams)—no points for guessing—followed by pink-fleshed guava (222 mg). Curry leaves have more beta carotene, a source of vitamin A, at 7,663 micrograms per 100 gram serving than...

-TheWire.in Tamil Nadu continues to witness cycles of flood and drought annually. Mismanagement of traditional water management systems is one of the main reasons. Tamil Nadu: That Tamil Nadu qualifies to be dubbed as a land of climate paradoxes is beyond debate. The massive flood of 2015 was quickly followed by a punishing drought in 2016. Though the state benefited marginally from the southwest monsoon, as is usually the case, the biggest...

-The Hindu Business Line Fails to ease distress caused by demonetisation’ New Delhi: Terming the Union Budget 2017-18, presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, as detrimental to the realisation of the welfare State, as enshrined in the Constitution, civil rights organisations said it “fails to respond to the present situation of distress and unemployment especially aggravated by demonetisation.” “The Budget seems to be perpetuating unemployment, hunger and malnutrition,” said a release by the...