-The Indian Express The MP government’s scheme paying farmers the difference between MSP and marketing prices has had a mixed impact on the ground. Dewas (Madhya Pradesh): “Baniya deta mandi mein, jo bachta hai woh sarkar deti hai” (what the trader gives in the market, the government gives the balance). That’s Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY) for Arjun Singh Sendhav. The 29-year-old five-bigha (2.9 acres) farmer from Chaubara Jagir village is a beneficiary of...

-Hindustan Times The Rs 7,000-crore sector in Himalayan states reels under high temperature, low rainfall The drought-like situation prevailing in the northwest Himalayas may spell bad news for the Rs 7,000-crore apple economy that sustains people residing in the upper regions of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir. This winter has been one of the warmest in the last decade, weather department officials said. Apple orchards usually need 500 to 1,000 chilling hours (with temperatures ranging...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Centre's plan to install nearly a million solar-powered water pumps for irrigation in the next three years through a 30 per cent government subsidy appears fiscally unrealistic, energy researchers cautioned on Thursday and called for alternative financing strategies. The researchers with the New Delhi-based Council on Energy Environment and Water (CEEW) have estimated that the 30 per cent subsidy on solar irrigation pumps would cost the government...

-Human Rights Watch Reform Laws Choking Freedom of Expression, Association New York: The Indian government failed to stop or credibly investigate vigilante attacks against minority religious communities during 2017, Human Rights Watch said today, releasing its World Report 2018. Many senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) publicly promoted Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism at the expense of fundamental rights for all Indians. Extremist Hindu groups, many claiming to be affiliated...

-FoodFirst.org Over the past seven years, institutions (such as the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization) have increasingly turned to the rubric of 'climate-smart agriculture' to tout the objectives of increased productivity, greater resilience, and a reduction in emissions. Though climate-smart agriculture's objectives are laudable, the latest Policy Brief of FoodFirst entitled 'What's Smart About Climate-smart Agriculture?' by Marcus Taylor explores how the framework has been used, at times,...