Demanding waiver of farm loans of rain-hit farmers in Orissa and relaxation of paddy standard for procurement, the Congress on Sunday asked the Centre to form a monitoring committee to supervise utilisation of its assistance for the distressed farmers. The Centre should form a committee to monitor and supervise utilisation of its assistance for the farmers whose Crops have been damaged due to untimely rains in Odisha, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee...

A sea water farming project and a genetic garden of Halophytes are being launched at Vedaranyam today The year 2010 marks the 80th anniversary of the Salt Satyagraha launched at Dandi by Mahatma Gandhi and at Vedaranyam by Rajaji to establish that sea water is a social resource. A Sea Water Farming project and a Genetic Garden of Halophytes are being launched at Vedaranyam on December 26, 2010 to initiate a...

Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday denied that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had sought his explanations on the rising prices of onions and other agricultural commodities. In a brief chat with the media persons on the sidelines of the two-day “Coop Core – 2010,” heralding the nationwide launch of the core banking solutions (CBS) for the urban cooperative banks, which began here on Saturday, Mr. Pawar said he too had...

The spectre of rising onion prices is haunting Indian politics again. As prices trebled over a period of three weeks, touching Rs.90 a kg in some parts of the country, the liliaceous plant, whose bulb is the mainstay of many Indian staple recipes, became a topic of debate and discussion not only for ordinary consumers, but for economists and policymakers as well. India is the world's second largest producer of...

Be it a bumper or lean season __ life for Karnataka's farmers remains unchanged as they are exploited by middlemen. While last week came as a boon to onion farmers as prices skyrocketed in an unprecedented manner, it all came to an end on Wednesday following the government's decision to stop exports until January 15 to contain the rates here, resulting in a sudden drop in per quintal rates and sending...