-The Business Standard Most key functions now handled by the finance ministry and other govt departments When Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently extended a Rs 8,000-crore central support for building roads in Jammu & Kashmir, Union Cabinet's approval for the big-ticket announcement came in barely 48 hours. Unlike in the past, the proposal did not get stuck in the corridors of the Planning Commission, a Nehruvian-era body. The Commission, which occupied the centre...
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Potato farming: India makes a hash of it -Sandip Sen
-The Hindu Business Line Output data is unreliable, which leaves us unprepared for shortages. And, farming practices are primitive The price of potatoes is once again moving up, largely due to the demand-supply gap in the market-place. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (Nafed) that was asked by the Ministry of Civil Supplies to explore the possibility of importing potatoes from Russia, China and Egypt, procured 3,500 tonnes of potatoes...
More »Tea turns bitter for Wayanad farmers -EM Manoj
-The Hindu Kalpetta (Kerala): A sharp decline in the price of green tea leaves, shortage of workers, and dearth of tea processing factories in the public sector have hit small-scale tea growers in Wayanad district. The spot price of green leaves on Saturday was Rs.8 a kg against Rs.13 a kg during the corresponding period last year. ‘‘We are forced to sell our produce at a throw away price to agents from Tamil...
More »Where Do They Squat? -Santosh Mehrotra
-Outlook Build toilets. But more important, get communities to change ways. Vidya Balan, the Bollywood star and ambassador of the Indian government's programme for building household toilets, asks the mother-in-law who is busy toying with her bahu's ghunghat at the wedding ceremony: "Do you have a toilet at home for the daughter-in-law to use?" Mum-in-law replies: "No." Vidya then asks her, "Then why are you extending her ghunghat so much when you...
More »India's farm sops under lens at WTO -Sidhartha
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The United States and Pakistan have questioned several of India's farm trade policies, including its land holding laws and the subsidy mechanism at the World Trade Organization, which is the latest assault being faced by the country after it raised the red flag over domestic support to farmers in Bali. Since the Bali ministerial meeting last December, WTO members have repeatedly put the lens on India's...
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