-Livemint.com Sowing of wheat, the main winter or rabi crop, 0.9% lower than the normal area of 25.8 million hectares; rice sowing lagging by 33% New Delhi: Sowing of winter crops is 81% complete and overall planting is close to the normal acreage for this time of the year, shows data released by the farm ministry on Friday. Sowing of rice has been affected due to a deficit in the north-east monsoon in...

-The News Minute Rice Diversity Blocks in Kerala and five other states preserve over 1,000 indigenous varieties of rice that were at risk of being lost. In the Indian subcontinent, the birthplace of paddy, the colours of the crop’s many varieties are as diverse as the land, its people, languages, cultures, costumes, dialects and so on. But most of that variety was lost, when farmers were asked to forgo indigenous varieties...

-Down to Earth Collective rights to undo historic injustice meted out to indigenous people remain completely ignored by the states, says Citizens’ report Ten years after the historic Forest Rights Act (FRA) was passed by the Indian lawmakers, only three per cent of villages or communities could secure their rights over forest resources which include land and the produce from the forests and water, states the Citizens’ Report prepared by Community...

-Frontline.in Interview with Utsa Patnaik, professor emerita of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. By T.K. RAJALAKSHMI THE FALLOUT of the decision of the National Democratic Alliance government to demonetise currency of higher denominations has been felt across all sections of people. There are concerns that it will lead to an overall economic slowdown given the acute shortage of currency for industrial and agricultural operations. The impact on agriculture and those dependent on agriculture...

-Livemint.com The possible macroeconomic consequences of demonetisation are cause for concern as cash is the lifeblood of the economy It is exactly one month since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the decision that Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes would cease to be legal tender acceptable for payments in settlement of transactions. There was some provision for exchange or deposit of old notes at banks, but with specified limits on sums and time. The past...