-FirstPost.com One of the fears that has been raised in the aftermath of the government promulgating an ordinance to amend the Land Acquisition Act is that land will be taken away for other purposes and given that, the amount of land used for farming will come down dramatically. This is a very specious argument that is being made. Data from World Bank shows that around 60.3 percent of India's land area is...
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Improving an unworkable law -Sanjoy Chakravorty
-The Hindu For the land-acquirer, the land act ordinance tries to lessen the indirect price of acquisition and transaction by diluting requirements for social impact assessments and referenda. For the land-loser, it not only retains all forms of compensation and rehabilitation, but also grows the number of those eligible for lucrative pay-offs The government of India continues to search for the right way to do land acquisition. Last week, the Union Finance...
More »Intelligence Bureau raises red flag on farmer suicides in its report to PMO -Aman Sharma
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Bureau has termed loan waiver and relief packages for distressed farmers as "short-term" measures and said the issue of farmer suicides needs a comprehensive solution. In a report to the Prime Minister's Office last week, the IB said farmer suicide is on a rise in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab. It also pointed to suicides by debt-ridden farmers in Gujarat, UP and Tamil Nadu...
More »Rains, lower temperature to boost planning of wheat, other rabi crops -Madhvi Sally
-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A spell of rains that fell across north, northwest and central India since Friday is expected to boost planting of wheat, chick pea, mustard and oilseeds. The cool temperature, though has set in late, is beneficial for the standing wheat crop, but potato and other vegetable crops could suffer from cold and frost conditions. According to data from the agriculture ministry, total area covered under rabi...
More »Karnataka's Smart, New Solar Pump Policy for Irrigation -Tushaar Shah, Shilp Verma, and Neha Durga
-Economic and Political Weekly The runaway growth in states of subsidised solar pumps, which provide quality energy at near-zero marginal cost, can pose a bigger threat of groundwater over-exploitation than free power has done so far. The best way to meet this threat is by paying farmers to "grow" solar power as a remunerative cash crop. Doing so can reduce pressure on aquifers, cut the subsidy burden on electricity companies, reduce...
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