-Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research, Mumbai, December 2018 (WP-2018-026) There are THRee goals of agricultural development in India. These are: (a) achieving high growth by raising productivity; (b) inclusiveness by focusing on lagging regions, small farmers and women; and (c) sustainability of agriculture. In this paper, we will address two questions: (a) How far India progressed in the THRee goals of agriculture in recent decades? (b) What are the policies...
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Lifelines beyond farm loan waivers -Kirankumar Vissa
-The Hindu In addition to reforming the credit system, agriculture should be made profitable Rural agrarian distress is firmly at the centre of the national discourse today, triggered by the recent Assembly election results in the Hindi heartland as well as continuous farmer agitations in the past two years (picture). Just a month ago, the farmers’ march in Delhi highlighted the reality of their deprivation, anger and resolve. Quite remarkably, their presence...
More »Forgotten again: 3 kids starve to death, fury gives way to apathy -Somreet Bhattacharya
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: A one-room house near Pandit Chowk in Mandawali has been locked ever since THRee children—Mansi (8), Sikha (4) and Parul (2)—starved to death here. The tragedy that shook this locality in July is still discussed, but the tide of strong emotions has now ebbed. “Nothing has changed. No new anganwadi centre has come up, nor did anyone ask about the condition of other kids living here....
More »India is 'planting forests' to forestall the impending water crisis. It is a fool's errand -Peter Smetacek
-Scroll.in Instead, for a start, we should allow forests to regrow naturally. Planting trees creates a plantation, not a forest. India is again wasting valuable time, effort and resources on a national scale as it races to forestall an impending water crisis. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is conducting massive afforestation drives, planting native species. But a forest is a self-sown, self-regenerating community of plants and dependent organisms, from...
More »Fasal Bima Yojana: Farmers' Distress is Source of Profit for Companies -Subodh Varma
-Newsclick.in The Modi government paid Rs.34,859 crore and farmers paid Rs.7,255 crore to insurance companies in THRee crop seasons. Among the series of schemes launched (or repackaged) by the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance government, one of the most toxic is the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Its purpose is to provide crop insurance to farmers, that is, if the crop fails due to some non-preventable reason, such as weather calamity...
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