-Down to Earth India requires policy changes to make millets an effective tool against malnutrition Nutrient-rich millets, which have been a crucial part of human diet since ancient times, have lost their importance due to globally commercialised agronomic practices to produce more foodgrains. Though awareness has been growing among the public in the recent years about the health benefits of a millet-based diet—high fibre, low carbohydrate, protein-rich and gluten-free—gaps persist on several...

-Counterview.net Calling the 2018-19 Union budget "highly disappointing", the top advocacy group, Right to Food Campaign (RFC), in a comprehensive analysis, has said, it has "miserably failed to respond to the present situation of rural distress and mass unemployment", adding, "Despite a spate of starvation deaths in different parts of the country, the budget makes no mention of hunger or malnutrition." Thus, RFC says, "There was some hope that the budget would...

-Livemint.com The budget to be presented on 1 February may be the last full budget of the Narendra Modi government unless it uses the opportunity to revive the economy The budget to be presented on 1 February will be the last full budget of this government. The budget in 2019 will only be a vote-on-account. But whether this will be the last full budget of the Narendra Modi government will depend on...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: As different states have come out with various schemes to protect farmers from price volatility, the Centre has expressed its willingness to support them all within the existing schemes and may even spend more in 2018-19 to procure agricultural and horticultural commodities at remunerative prices. "We will not reject states' requests. We would like states to procure as much as required to reduce farmers' pain and...

-Livemint.com While trade policy is skewed against farmers, rural schemes lag behind targets, say the organizations New Delhi: The Union government has overlooked the spectre of rural distress and gone back on its promises to ensure remunerative returns to farmers, several farmer organizations claimed on Tuesday while releasing a paper on the state of Indian agriculture, ahead of the Union budget. Titled Green Paper on Farmers, Farming and Rural Economy 2018, the document...