-The Hindu Business Line Price double in key wholesale markets; Consumer Affairs Ministry suggests floor price for exports New Delhi/Mumbai: To check spiralling prices of onions and ease supplies, the Centre has decided to import 2,000 tonnes of onions through the State-owned MMTC while two other agencies, Nafed and SFAC, will source 12,000 tonnes locally, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said. A floor price of $700 per tonne on...

-The Hindu Business Line Members such as Canada, EU, US want stiffer safeguards for public stock holding India’s demand for a permanent solution on public stockholding subsidies at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is being challenged by several members, including Canada, the EU and the US, which are insisting on stiffer safeguards, restricted product coverage and a linkage with pruning of overall domestic support. “As the deadline for coming up with a permanent...

-The Indian Express Union government must address structural issues in agricultural policy, allow states greater autonomy. Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating just as the deliberations for the 2018 budget are beginning and it’s time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system. The “one-size-fits-all” policy created for the farm sector is self-destructive in design and programmes meant to double farmer incomes are collapsing. The...

-The Hindu We need to revisit the credit policy with a focus on the outreach of banks and financial inclusion Since Independence, one of the primary objectives of India’s agricultural policy has been to improve farmers’ access to institutional credit and reduce their dependence on informal credit. As informal sources of credit are mostly usurious, the government has improved the flow of adequate credit through the nationalisation of commercial banks, and the...

-The Telegraph Lucknow: For 18 months since April last year, Phulwasi Devi and 34 other elderly residents of Pipariya village couldn't figure out why they hadn't been receiving their subsidised food grain or old-age pension. It took them an 18km bus ride last Monday to find out, from the district social welfare department office, that they had all been marked "dead" in official records.. The 35 victims, who include 20 women and 30...