-The Hindu Business Line Ahmedabad: Ahead of the kharif sowing season, Gujarat is facing a cash shortage as banks have started receiving lesser cash than required from the RBI. This has resulted in the rationing of cash disbursements at several banks in parts of Gujarat, mainly in the north. Banking sources confirmed experiencing cash shortage at the currency chest level from where the disbursement of cash takes place to the bank branches. There...

-Livemint.com Plant varieties and Seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto, and any royalties on GM crops will be decided by the agriculture ministry, says Delhi high court New Delhi: Plant varieties and Seeds cannot be patented under Indian law by companies like Monsanto Inc., and any royalties on genetically modified (GM) technology will be decided by a specialized agency of the agriculture ministry, the Delhi high court...

-Frontline.in The government ought to have specified its definition of cost of crop production in the Budget to prevent any confusion in the minds of people on minimum support prices. Speaking at the Krishi Unnati Mela 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly complained that confusion was being spread about the announcement on minimum support prices (MSPs) made in the Finance Minister’s 2018 Budget speech. The speech had assured farmers that they would,...

-The Hindu Business Line Urge growers to stay away from illegal Bt3 Seeds Hyderabad: With the kharif season fast approaching, the Telangana government and farmers’ union have launched independent campaigns to discourage people from illegal bio-tech cotton Seeds or Roundup Ready Flex Seeds. The third generation seed technology developed by Monsanto gives cotton plants protection against glyphosate, which is sprayed to kill the weed. Though the technology doesn’t have permissions in the country,...

-The New Indian Express JEYPORE (Odisha): The announcement of making a 56-year-old tribal woman of Patraput village in Koraput district a member of the State Planning Board has brought cheer for the widow as well as the locals. Villagers and elected representatives of Jeypore block are making a beeline for her thatched house to congratulate Kamala Pujari, who brought laurels to the State by preserving hundreds of local varieties of paddy...