-The Hindu Business Line Eminent agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan, Chairman of the much discussed Farmers’ Commission whose report mooted an MSP at 50 per cent above cost, feels that income support can be given in the form of free inputs or higher procurement as well. While welcoming ‘PM-Kisan’, he says cash transfer should not become a form of patronage and that the focus should shift from loan write-offs to long-term policies....
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Farmers in Maharashtra village finally get their crop-cover dues -Rajalakshmi Nirmal
-The Hindu Business Line Many ryots covered by PMFBY in Jalna district faced hardship due to a bureaucratic bungle Following a BusinessLine article dated February 18 (‘When cover for farmers came a cropper’), settlement has been done to 146 farmers of Jalna district in Aurangabad (Maharashtra) under the crop insurance scheme (for Kharif 2017) by the insurer, IFFCO Tokio. Here’s a quick recap of what had happened: Jalna was badly hit by a...
More »Centre defies SC order on CIC appointments -Priscilla Jebaraj
-The Hindu The Centre has denied a Right to Information (RTI) request for details of the ongoing recruitment process for four vacancies in the Central Information Commission (CIC), despite a recent Supreme Court order mandating that such information be made public. The CIC is the RTI Act’s highest appellate body. “The judgment of the Honourable Supreme Court given in WP No. 436 of 2018 is under consideration of the department,” said the...
More »Looming water scarcity
-The Hindu Business Line Drought conditions in peninsular India highlight familiar policy failures Recent BusinessLine reports have highlighted the harrowing conditions of water scarcity in peninsular India, with the monsoon still about three months away. Scientists and specialists have observed that 40 per cent of the country’s area is reeling under drought, of which 16-17 per cent is severe. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Gujarat are in a...
More »Farm income support, a silver bullet? -Radheshyam Jadhav, Vishwanath Kulkarni, Rutam Vora, V Sajeev Kumar, KV Kurmanath, TV Jayan and A Srinivas
-The Hindu Business Line After failed efforts to placate angry farmers, the Centre and various States have launched income-support schemes. BusinessLine reports Let’s rewind to mid-2017, when onion farmers in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, took to the streets. The protests spread like wildfire to Madhya Pradesh. In northern Karnataka, pulses growers were up in arms against crashing prices. Minimum support prices were not holding up. Flustered governments began to trot out loan waivers as...
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