-Hindustan Times Every Rs 10 lakh invested in farm research pulled 328 people out of poverty; 26 people were helped by the same amount spent on subsidies. New Delhi: Are Indian farmers paying a price for sweeping agricultural input subsidies they enjoyed for decades and which they have taken for granted, from virtually free power to extremely low-priced fertilisers? Data from a landmark new research seem to suggest so. The research, by economist...

-The Indian Express Forcing machinery on farmers without giving a thought to the economics of their utilisation can prove counter-productive. There are three main impediments to farm mechanisation in India. The first is cost, which, for a standard 50-horsepower tractor, today averages around Rs 6.5-6.8 lakh. But a tractor is just a source of power and traction, and only as good as the farm implements it can pull. The most basic tractor-drawn tiller/cultivator...

-ThePrint.in Rural Development Ministry data shows Modi’s village Nagepur in Varanasi is not open defecation-free, scores zero out of three. New Delhi: As part of his marquee Swachh Bharat initiative, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had set an ambitious target of ensuring an open defecation-free (ODF) India by October 2019. This could be a bit of a stretch because as it turns out, the PM’s own adopted village — Nagepur in his Varanasi...

-Down to Earth While power consumption in agriculture is overestimated, a number of factors influence groundwater extraction. A new study done by Pune-based non-profit Prayas shows that India’s agriculture SECtor cannot be held responsible for financial stress on electricity distribution companies (discoms) and for declining groundwater. The study titled, Understanding the Electricity, Water & Agriculture Linkages, argues that not only is the subsidy given to agriculture in India overestimated, the relation between subsidy...

-The Hindu A national policy for internal migration is needed to improve earnings and enable an exit from poverty Though migration is expected to enhance consumption and lift families out of absolute poverty at the origin, it is not free from distress — distress due to unemployment or underemployment in agriculture, natural calamities, and input/output market imperfections. Internal migration can be driven by push and/or pull factors. In India, over the recent...