-Business Standard Nabard-Icrier study calls for moving high-water reliant crops like sugarcane in Maharashtra, rice in Punjab to other areas; Gadkari says not possible. With India staring at a looming water crisis, a new study on ‘water productivity mapping of major crops’ has called for putting a price on water used for irrigation to at least recover operating and maintenance costs of structures like canals. It has also called for an end...

-Hindustan Times Citizens are finding innovative ways to protest and are often doing so without the help of political parties, who often arrive ‘late to the party’. Though the recent violence in Shillong began over a minor scuffle and spread through a fabricated story on WhatsApp, it took almost a week to de-escalate tensions between members of the Sikh community, long-time settlers in the Punjabi Lane area of the city, and Khasis,...

-News18.com Dadaji was active until last year when he would make at least one visit to his farm every day. The veteran stopped working when his body would no longer back up his mind and his ideas. Nagpur: He fought for his rights but could never quite get his due. Dadaji Ramaji Khobragade, the inventor of HMT-Sona and ten other popular rice varieties died on Sunday at the Search hospital in Gadchiroli. The...

-The Indian Express We have, indeed, entered a regime of “permanent surpluses” in most crops — a reality our policymakers are unable to grasp, stuck as they are in the era of the Essential Commodities Act. If there is one thing that has changed in Indian agriculture in recent times, it is supply response — the ability of farmers to increase production when prices go up. Traditionally, the supply curve in most...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The 10-day farmers' strike in northern and western India ended on Sunday without any clear gains for the agitators or a significant impact on prices. During the " gaon bandh" agitation, the farmers had boycotted wholesale markets and tried to sell their produce directly. They were demanding a minimum support rice that would leave them with a 50 per cent profit and the waiver of farm loans. The Rashtriya...