-Reuters Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to provide millions of farmers with income insurance linked to crop prices, officials say, but it may not do much to ease rural distress, with small farmers standing to benefit little and likely to be put off by bureaucracy. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which swept to office a year ago, hopes to consolidate its power in local elections over the next two years, but anger...

-The Telegraph Guwahati: The Tea Board of India is giving a big push to organic tea production in the country for the first time by providing 25 per cent more subsidy than the normal subsidy of 30 per cent. This has for the first time been incorporated in the Twelfth Plan by the board to give a boost to organic tea, which has been gaining momentum in the country. Besides, it has a...

-The Indian Express It can be strengthened —by the collection of taxes at the local level, for instance. Democratic decentralisation, conceived two decades ago, seems to be a lost cause at first sight. Beyond lip service by politicians, neither panchayats nor municipalities have captured the public imagination as viable, responsive, accountable institutions of government. Just after the Karnataka panchayat elections, which ended on June 2, the continued disempowerment of local governments is...

-Business Standard Encourages states on short-duration and less of rain-dependent crops, pushes seed availability in case of re-sowing as IMD predicts deficit in rainfall this year Mumbai/ Hyderabad: With the forecast of monsoon rain revised downward, the Union ministry of agriculture has directed states to be ready with contingency plans. Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan said rainfall would be only 88 per cent of the long-term average from the 93 per cent expected...

-The Statesman Agriculture is the source of livelihood for nearly 700 million people in India, representing a huge workforce. More than half the GDP of the rural economy is based on agriculture. It is not just a profession but a traditional occupation, a way of life. Agriculture is characterised by small and fragmented land holdings. Small (up to one hectare of land) and marginal (more than one ha and up to 2...