-Scroll.in At the heart of the problem is a discrepancy between two laws on rights for Adivasis to the bamboo growing on their traditional forestlands. Across the world, taxonomists have classified bamboo as a grass. But under Indian law, it was treated as a tree. This definition has long given state forest departments monopolistic control over the valuable natural resource. On November 23, the central government loosened this grip by amending the...

-Newsclick.in Agricultural output is stagnating, Farmers’ debt and suicides are rising, 35% cultivators have abandoned farming – gujarat’s development model has betrayed Farmers Here are some facts about the state of agriculture in Gujarat, often described by BJP as the crucible for ‘model’ governance and development:     Between 2001 and 2011, the number of cultivators in Gujarat fell by 355,181, the bulk of which was marginal cultivators (those who cultivate only up to...

-The Hindu Ardent BJP supporters for the past many years, Farmers, harried by the poor prices of produce, say enough is enough MORBI: Gangaram Patel, a 50-year-old Farmer at Kalyanpar village in Morbi district, grows cotton and groundnut on four hectares of his land. For the past 22 years, he has been a BJP voter. However, this time, Mr. Patel says, he will change his voting preference because the party has done little...

-The Hindu Business Line Procurement of the excess output vis-a-vis a normal year, rather than open-ended purchase, is a viable option A bountiful harvest that implies an increase in output may not always increase the nominal income of the farming sector, which is subject to the behaviour of input and more particularly output prices, which may sometimes move sharply. There can, therefore, be years in which there is a sudden and sharp...

-IANS NEW DELHI: As many as 19,732 projects as part of the village development plan under the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana (SAGY) have been completed and another 7,204 were under implementation, an official statement said on Tuesday. The objective of the programme is improving access to public services and community action for social and economic development in the selected gram panchayats so they become role models worth emulation by neighboring gram panchayats. "An...