-The Indian Express Union government must address structural issues in agricultural policy, allow states greater autonomy. Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating just as the deliberations for the 2018 budget are beginning and it’s time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system. The “one-size-fits-all” policy created for the farm sector is self-destructive in design and programmes meant to double farmer incomes are collapsing. The...

-TheWire.in The farmers have done their job. The nation has failed to deliver them a decent income in return. Farmers are coming onto the streets across the country – in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and now from all states into Delhi. As the agitations intensify and take a national character, it is necessary for the nation to understand what is driving them. Are they asking for the sky,...

-The Indian Express Onion farmers have suffered even in a bumper crop year. Needed: Scientific storage facilities, a judicious trade policy. Onions are, once again, in the news. Last week, retail prices touched Rs 50/kg in several markets, and wholesale prices touched Rs 30/kg in major onion markets like Lasalgaon in Maharashtra. This is not the first time that onion prices have spiked. Almost every alternate year, this roller-coaster of boom and...

-ThePrint.in The paddy being grown in Punjab is alien to conditions in Punjab, and the burning of its stubble has had a big impact on the state’s air quality. Punjab is an agrarian state with predominant wheat-paddy cropping cycle. During the kharif season every year, paddy is grown in standing water on about 2.9 million hectares of land. This paddy crop, taken up by Punjab farmers in the early 1980s, is alien to...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: An Assembly committee will seek a fresh appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to consider Odisha's demand to increase the minimum support price for paddy. The decision to meet Modi was taken on Friday at a House committee meeting presided over by Speaker Pradeep Amat. The committee had approached the Prime Minister's Office twice this year, but without any success. Leader of the Opposition Narasingh Mishra said: "The Speaker will write...