-The Indian Express Policy still hasn’t adjusted itself to address the crisis of agricultural produce deflation. India’s agricultural output grew by hardly 2.7 per cent during the last October-December quarter. That isn’t bad, if one takes the corresponding year-on-year increases for the preceding 10 quarters; these have ranged between 4.2 per cent and 7.5 per cent. The cause for concern is that these reasonably good production growth rates in “real” terms...

-The Hindu Business Line Pune: Noticing that some banks had diverted the first instalment of Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) scheme to farmers’ loan accounts, the Maharashtra government has instructed banks to return the money to farmers. Speaking to BusinessLine, Maharashtra’s Commissioner of Agriculture, Suhas Diwase, said that banks that had diverted the PM-Kisan instalment to farmers’ loan accounts have reversed the transactions after the government’s instructions: “There are strict instructions...

-The Hindu A basic income scheme will deliver benefits to the poor only if it comes on top of public services The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) is gaining ground globally. It has supporters among the political left and right, and among proponents as well as opponents of the free-market economy. A UBI requires the government to pay every citizen a fixed amount of money on a regular basis and...

-The Hindu Investment and policy reform are needed on priority to help farmers cope with climate change Over the last decade, many of Bundelkhand’s villages have faced significant depopulation. Famous of late for farmer protests, the region, which occupies parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has been adversely impacted by climate change. It was once blessed with over 800-900 mm rainfall annually, but over the last seven years, it has seen...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: After rolling out the Centre’s flagship ‘assured income support’ scheme for farmers on Sunday, the Modi government is now looking at the prospect of disbursing the second instalment of Rs 2,000 each to eligible small and marginal farmers in April-May even as the election is on. If the government goes ahead, many of the beneficiaries may get total Rs 4,000 in next two months - first...