School girls in bright red uniforms troop down the slope in groups of threes and fours in Koppa, the fertile sugarcane town in southern Karnataka’s agricultural district of Mandya. A teenage boy on a motorcycle does the dim-and-dip with his headlights, the equivalent of a wink, as he passes the girls on his way up the slope in what seems to be a strut on a motorcycle. “Television and mobile phones...
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Jharkhand produces record Kharif crop
-IANS For the first time since its creation in 2000, Jharkhand has produced more Kharif food grain than it consumes at a record 55 million tonnes -- almost double compared to previous years. "We expect the Rabi production to be around 10 million tonnes," an agriculture department official told reporters. The total consumption of food grain in Jharkhand is around 50 million tonnes. As per record, the state has been producing 24-33 million...
More »UPA signals intent to deregulate sugar industry by Sangeeta Singh
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on Friday signalled its intent to deregulate the sugar industry, a move that could potentially stoke a political backlash, especially at a time when states like Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand—all sugarcane-growing regions—are in the middle of an election campaign. The opposition claimed that not only was it anti-farmer, it also violated the electoral code of conduct prevalent in five states, while sugar stocks of...
More »FCI pays 30% less, forces distress sale by Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta
Farmers across the country are entitled to get Rs 1,080 a quintal (100kg) asminimum support price for paddy. But surprisingly, a team from the Centre that visited Bihar and Uttar Pradesh last week found that theFood Corporation of India (FCI) was paying nearly 30% less. With little procurement taking place in these states, farmers have been left with no option but to go for distress sale. The result: In procurement centres...
More »Poor labourers pledged Rs 100, get Re 1 for day's work under govt's employment guarantee scheme by Nitin Sethi
Poor workers are being paid wages as low as Rs 1-10 for a hard day's labour in states like Rajasthan and Karnataka under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme which promises a real wage of Rs 100 per day. Documents with TOI show that many desperate, poor labourers across the country are being cheated of their hard earned money and the much publicized guaranteed daily wage of Rs 100...
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