-The Hindu Business Line Falling farm prices, drying up of industrial jobs and lesser MGNREGA work have sharpened rural discontent. The Budget cannot ignore these factors in a year of 8 State polls The year 2017 was roiled by rural discontent. After two consecutive drought years (2014-15 and 2015-16), when agriculture growth plummeted (see table), the countryside was awash with hope after a good monsoon in 2016-17. However, record foodgrain output (272 million...
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Why farmers don't have electoral clout -Avik Saha and Yogendra Yadav
-Down to Earth Although farmers vote at least as much, if not more than industrial workers or urban middle classes, elections are not fought around farmers' issues Elections are about numbers. Democratic politics is about stitching together a majority. So, the larger a group, the bigger is its “vote bank”, and greater is its electoral clout. A social group that constitutes a majority can therefore dictate its terms in an electoral democracy....
More »China accounts for 66 per cent of India's bulk drug imports in FY'17
-PTI NEW DELHI: India's bulk drug imports from top five countries stood at Rs 18,372.54 crore in 2016-17 with China accounting for 66 per cent, Parliament was informed today. In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State, Chemicals and fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said the other four major countries from where India imports bulk drugs are Germany, the US, Italy and Singapore. India's import of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) from China...
More »Govt's ambitious fertilizer subsidy reform plan -R Sree Ram
-Livemint.com Overall, while the government is trying to reform the fertilizer subsidy payment mechanism, the challenge is to make sure the new system works before implementation Union minister for chemicals and fertilizers Ananth Kumar’s ambitious plan to clear the fertilizer subsidy backlog before the implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme next fiscal year (FY19) has come as surprise to many. The huge subsidy backlog (estimated at Rs35,000 crore as of FY17)...
More »4-fold rise in green solution to burning of paddy stubble -Amit Bhattacharya
-The Times of India KARNAL/ LUDHIANA: For the past two years, Manoj Kumar Munjial hasn't set fire to a single straw of paddy residue in his fields sprawled over 45 acres at Taraori in Haryana's Karnal district. Instead, the young farmer uses the straw as an input for future crops. Even as the new wheat crop grows, the old residue sits in the field enriching the soil, conserving water, nourishing the...
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