-The Hindu Business Line India has been the world’s top rice Exporter since the beginning of this decade. But this boom has benefited only merchant capitalists, not consumers and producers India emerged the world’s largest rice Exporter in 2011-12, displacing Thailand from its leadership position. Two factors played a role in this. The first was the government’s decision in February 2011 to lift a four-year ban on Exports of non-basmati varieties of...

-PTI The Commerce Ministry is planning a series of workshops in states including Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh to implement its Export policy for agricultural goods with a view to boost overall shipments, an official said. The Ministry has suggested states to set up a nodal agency dedicated for the implementation of the agriculture Export policy. Workshops would help identify bottlenecks, get feedback and suggestions to improve and overcome difficulties in the...

-News18.com Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods. Dismissing the buzz about imminent new initiatives...

-Down to Earth The circular economy of cattle has ruptured, threatening livelihoods of India’s poorest. The value output of the livestock economy is Rs 9.18 lakh crore, managed mostly by small and marginal farmers It is almost a year since Rahamdin Khan hasn’t got any good sleep. A resident of Khoabas, a bucolic village of 500 households at the foothills of Aravalli mountain range in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, Rahamdin witnessed a cruel...

-The Indian Express An income transfer policy combined with direct cash transfer is the best way to help the farmer Losses in the recent elections to the assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have given the BJP a jolt. The party had misjudged the gravity of the farm distress problem till then: The Union agriculture minister described farmer agitations as “political drama”. However, the party not only acknowledges the crisis...