-PTI/ Business Standard The lowering of estimates has been attributed to "early summer" The government has revised downwards the estimate for wheat production by 5.7 per cent to 105 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year ending June from the earlier projection of 111.32 million tonnes, as the crop productivity has been affected due to the early onset of summer. Addressing a press conference, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey said the agriculture ministry has...

-Hindustan Times Field studies and market trends show wide disparity between drop in crop yield and drop in wheat arrival at mandis in semi-arid belt of Punjab’s Malwa region Bathinda: Field studies conducted by the state agriculture authorities reveal that districts in the semi-arid belt of Punjab’s Malwa region have recorded a drop of 8-17% in wheat yield even as the market trend indicates a much wider gap in crop arrival in...

-Newsclick.in The central government has raked in over Rs18 lakh crore from excise duties compared to Rs14 lakh crore from taxes by all state governments over the past eight years. Yet again, the government has tried to obfuscate the exorbitant petrol/diesel prices by blaming state governments. This time, it was the Prime Minister himself who blamed some Opposition-ruled states for not reducing taxes like the Value Added Tax (VAT) after the central...

-The Hindu What is the Opposition-ruled States’ stand on reduction of value added tax to bring down petrol prices?  The story so far: Petrol is retailing at more than ₹100 per litre across India. While rising crude oil prices have added to the burden, the primary reason behind the steep increase in pump fuel prices over the last few years is the gradually rising Central Government's excise duty component. Currently, for every...

-Outlook India Better prices luring Indian farmers to sell their produce to private traders for sale in the global markets. Should India need to worry? One man’s loss is another man’s gain. And here, in a rare circumstance, the Indian farmers seem to be on the gaining side. First, the Centre had to bow in front of the community and revoke its three farm laws, and now, because of the Russia-Ukraine war,...