-Zee News Agriculture is consistently losing its importance in India's economic growth. The agriculture sector contributes to just 15 percent of India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but over 50 percent of the population is still dependent on it. The farm sector, including forestry and fishing, grew by 3.2 percent in the quarter ending September, as compared o 3.8 percent in previous quarter and 4.7 percent in 2013-14. For the entire financial...
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Modi government's doublespeak on food security is a recipe for chaos and corruption -Jean Drèze
-Scroll.in The strongest safeguard against fraud is not end-to-end computerisation but clarity of entitlements: if people know what is due to them, they will fight for it. In a stunning admission of party hypocrisy, former Food Minister Shanta Kumar recently stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party's support for the National Food Security Act last year was just a pretence. Remember, when the act was being discussed in Parliament, BJP leaders (from Narendra...
More »For the farmers
-The Indian Express The Centre is reportedly considering decontrol of urea over a period of three years, at the end of which retail prices would be totally market-determined, with farmers getting a fixed per-bag subsidy to be credited directly to their bank accounts. If this happens, it will probably be the most politically challenging economic reform the Narendra Modi government undertakes. Given the crash in global oil prices, decontrol of diesel...
More »After petrol and diesel, Modi government may deregulate urea -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express After petrol and diesel, the Narendra Modi government is looking next to deregulate urea. In the works is a three-year plan to decontrol the maximum retail price (MRP) of this fertiliser - currently fixed at Rs 5,360 a tonne or Rs 268 per 50-kg bag - alongside permitting duty-free imports sans any canalisation or restrictions, and credit the subsidy directly into the bank accounts of farmers. Urea imports now...
More »No end to battle over land -Anumeha Yadav
-The Hindu When the National Democratic Alliance government amended the land acquisition Act through an ordinance last week, it promised to set farmers and industry on an amiable path to mutual benefits and development. Land acquisition under the 1894 Act had been marked by violent protests, even police firings at farmers. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, is the first law on...
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