-The Economic Times KOLKATA | GUWAHATI: West Bengal and Assam have failed to avail funds under Bringing Green Revolution to the Eastern India (BGREI) for FY13. In the Union Budget 2012-13, the Centre has allotted Rs 1,000 crore for seven states in the eastern region under the BGREI scheme. While West Bengal has failed to send the statement of expenditure to avail the BGREI fund, Assam, on the other hand, has taken...

-The Hindu Centre mulling alternative crops The Union Government is looking at the possibility of replacing rice crop in Punjab and Haryana with alternative crops such as pulses, fodder and oilseeds that help in nitrogen fixation. The water-intensive rice cultivation over the years has become unsustainable in these two States and the water table has fallen to precarious levels. Giving this information to members of Parliament’s Consultative Committee for his Ministry, Agriculture Minister...

-The Hindu Sowing of kharif paddy has improved thanks to rain in some parts of the deficient areas, but it is still lower by 11.40 lakh hectares as compared to last year. If compared with last year’s sowing — a record foodgrains production year — at this time of the year, the area under paddy, pulses, coarse cereals, oilseeds and cotton is still lower. An inter-Ministerial group that reviewed the situation on Friday...

-The Economic Times The monsoon has covered the key farming regions of central and northwestern parts of the country, giving a boost to sowing. However, the coarse grainproducing areas of western Rajasthan and Gujarat are yet to get any rain spell.  "The monsoon is progressing well. There are chances that rains will be good in July, allaying fears of a major crop loss. The July rain this time is likely to be...

-The Business Standard   MGNREGA review should be based on more research Both acclaim and accusations have been hurled at the UPA’s landmark scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee programme, or MGNREGA. Usually, the reasons for the criticism or praise are less-than-completely supported. For example, it has been both praised and condemned for providing local wage employment to the jobless, thus curbing outmigration; similarly, it is claimed that the scheme has...