-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Agri marketing in Punjab is unimaginable without Commission agents (arhtiyas). But a section of farmers in the state are beginning to respond to farmer producer organizations' (FPOs) attempt at marketing as an alternative to the traditional direct selling. The move is also expected to help farmers break the wheat-paddy cycle and take to growing vegetables. A study sponsored by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD)...

-The Times of India BHOPAL: Challenging the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines, which are used during polling to verify that the vote cast by a person goes to the correct candidate, would land a person in jail, if it is found that the machine is working fine. The issue has come to light as the election commission is planning to make the people in MP aware of the machine...

-The Times of India Punjab, the leader of green revolution during the '70s, has become disreputable for farmers' suicides in last two decade or so. Usually, these suicides are attributed to farmers' indebtedness to banks and Commission agents. However, it is to be noted that bank credit has played a pivotal role in investment into tubewells, tractors, farm mechanization, horticulture, dairy, poultry and forestry all over India, and especially in Punjab and...

-The Hindu Business Line At an organic market in Odisha, middle-class consumers get to interact with the producers of their food and appreciate traditional knowledge systems One Sunday morning in January, I visited an organic produce market located amidst dense bougainvillea creepers and rows of trees, on the grounds of the six-decade-old Christian Hospital in Bissamcuttack, a town in western Odisha’s Rayagada district. In policy and public imagination, Odisha, particularly its western districts...

-Livemint.com For same wealth levels, chances of owning cattle are more or less the same for Hindus and Muslims Given the increasing incidents of violence under the garb of cow protection in the country—these are driven largely by the belief that Muslims engage with the cattle economy mostly for meat (as butchers, Commission agents or beef eaters)—it makes sense to view the cattle economy in the country through the prism of religion. An...