Ram Dia Singh was ready to chuck in his life as a farmer in northern India to embrace that of an ascetic in the foothills of the Himalayan mountains. When he consulted his guru in the hill town of Solan, instead of being welcomed into a holy order he was instructed to return to the land and do good works among fellow farmers who increasingly struggle to eke out a living...

Recommends guidelines to be issued by Tribal Affairs Ministry The National Advisory Council (NAC) has drawn up detailed operational guidelines, which it has recommended that the Union Tribal Affairs Ministry issue to the States for strengthening the Forest Rights Act (FRA). These guidelines can be issued under Section 12 of the FRA. One, the gram sabhas that are called for enquiry and verification of claims should be convened at the level of...

Policy reforms required to bring about better convergence of schemes Streamlining of environment clearance for infrastructure projects suggested Higher farm sector share in economic development needed The Economic Survey 2010-11 has advised the government to carry out nearly a dozen reforms pertaining to various sectors of the economy and stressed that action in this regard would be necessary to achieve the 9 per cent GDP (gross domestic product) expansion projected for 2011-12 and...

Take a host of initiatives to ramp up presence in rural markets. With increased focus on directing funds towards agriculture, banks are confident of meeting their farm sector lending targets this financial year. “We had 60 rural branches last year and will take it to 125 by next month. This will give a major fillip to the agri lending business,” said S Chakrabarthy, deputy managing director, Axis Bank. According to the Trend and...

The B S Yeddyurappa government rolled out a whole new slew of populist schemes in its 2011-12 revenue surplus Budget on Thursday, targeting an increase in the number of ‘direct beneficiaries’, especially in the agriculture sector. New schemes announced in Yeddyurappa’s Budget include a provision of Rs 10,000 each to 10 lakh small farmers in dry lands, reduction of interest rates on co-operative bank loans from three to one per...