-PTI/BusinessToday.in The wheat procurement target has been revised downward to 195 lakh tonnes for the current year from the earlier 444 lakh tonnes due to a fall in wheat output and increased exports. The government's wheat procurement fell by 53 per cent to 182 lakh tonnes so far in the current 2022-23 marketing year compared to the year-ago period on aggressive buying by private players for export purposes, according to official sources. The...

-Foundation for Agrarian Studies The project report titled “Public Spending on Agriculture in India: 2010-11 to 2019-20,” has been released in April, 2022. The report has been prepared by the Foundation for Agrarian Studies with the support of Rosa Luxembourg Stiftung, New Delhi. In 2021, the Foundation for Agrarian Studies conducted a research project to analyse the trends in public spending on agriculture in India for the most recent decade (2010-11 to...

-The Hindu Challenges abound in this approach, which needs to be analysed in depth before a policy is announced The University Grants Commission (UGC) has recently announced that it will do away with the mandatory PhD qualification to teach in Central Universities (CUs) spread across the country. It purportedly addresses a shortage of qualified faculty in CUs. According to the Ministry of Education data, there were 10,000 teaching positions lying vacant in...

-The Hindu Business Line Pesticide residues in India’s agri exports calls for a multi-pronged policy response As reported recently by this newspaper, India’s cumin exports have suffered a setback in recent months, with China claiming that pesticide residues exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs) spelt out by it about six months back. Chinese authorities have said that consignments must be accompanied by a pesticide residue report. India has been through all this...

-PTI/ Financial Express Downtrading refers to the practice of switching from expensive products to cheaper alternatives by customers in a bid to conserve cash. FMCG manufacturers are opting to reduce product weight rather than price of items targeted at lower-end consumers, while resorting to single-digit price increase on some large packs and launching ‘bridge packs’, as they seek to overcome the impact of commodity price rise and unprecedented inflation. Besides, they are also...