-Newsclick.in More than ‘short supply’, profiteering by traders is behind the ongoing high prices. But why is the government beating around the bush instead of acting fast? Within weeks – in fact days – onion prices have gone through the roof across the country, reminding everybody of the periodic spikes in the past that caused governments to fall. In Delhi, for instance, the price of onions at the local sabziwala is ranging...

-Hindustan Times India’s obsession with keeping food prices low, even when there’s no inflationary pressure, has long hurt farm incomes Farming is gloriously uncertain, thanks not just to uncertain weather, but also unpredictable policies. Let’s zoom into the finances of Bhupinder Pal Singh, a horticulturist from Babbain, a village in Haryana, a state that counts itself among the first places where India’s Green Revolution of 1960s began. In good years, Singh would earn...

-ThePrint.in Centre's procurement deal through NAFED offers Kashmir apple farmers a lower rate than last year, while also changing the definitions of different categories Srinagar: The Centre’s decision to procure Kashmir’s apple produce to prevent distress sales amid tensions in the Valley will put farmers at a disadvantage over conventional sales, ThePrint has learnt.   With militants reportedly threatening traders against conducting business, and a public curfew in place against the decision to...

-The Indian Express NAFED has been tasked with purchasing all the apples that growers bring to sell at mandis in the Valley. A bumper crop, for which there would hardly be any private buyers with all the current movement restrictions, makes it all the more challenging. The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has not bought a single kilogram of apples for the last three decades or more. “We did...

-The Hindu Business Line The apple season in Himachal Pradesh spells good earnings for workers from India and Nepal It is apple season in Himachal Pradesh — the time of the year when thousands of migrant labourers from Nepal, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Uttarakhand travel long distances to reach the apple belt of the State, hoping to earn hefty wages. From plucking, loading, grading, labelling and packaging apples, these workers fan out, from...