-Livemint.com * India’s cattle are on an enforced diet, milk’s value is on the slide and chicken farmers are in deep despair * The livestock sector contributes 30% to India’s agricultural GDP and is valued at over ₹9 trillion. Yet, during the lockdown, policy and remedial interventions have largely focused on crops NEW DELHI: Shravan Kumar Yadav often wakes up in the middle of the night these days. The incessant mooing and grunting...

-The Hindu A regime of social policy must be installed to meet the basic needs of all citizens at all times – not only during pandemics The current pandemic has forced us to think about the plight of workers in our country. While the virus has demonstrated the enormous value of health workers, it has also enhanced public awareness of the pivotal role of migrant workers in our economy. We have been...

-Society for Social and Economic Research The sudden announcement of a national lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19 has resulted in a severe disruption of food supply chains. The lockdown was announced without any preparation, and nothing was mentioned about excluding agricultural production and marketing operations from the purview of the lockdown when the Prime Minister first announced these restrictions. Once the lockdown was announced, governments scrambled to keep the...

-The Hindu Business Line With bumper harvests, farmers are forced to sell the stocks to middlemen for a pittance or let them go to waste. Better integration of markets, development and maintenance of storage facilities could help avoid this problem Farmers are the worst hit due to the coronavirus lockdown, unable to harvest crops and sell the harvested produce in the market. The dairy farmers of Assam and Karnataka; and vegetable, fruit...

-PTI/ Financial Express Paddy is the main kharif (summer) crop, besides pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane. The Union Agriculture Ministry on Thursday laid down the standard operating procedure (SOP) to guide farmers on safety precautions that need to be strictly followed during planting of kharif crops amid the threat of COVID-19 pandemic. Paddy is the main kharif (summer) crop, besides pulses, oilseeds and commercial crops like cotton and sugarcane....