-The Business Standard The Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee law allows mandis to remain in the grip of a middlemen cartel, with clear links to politicians who run the governments Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has, in effect, told chief ministers of party-ruled states that if food inflation is to be controlled, as many items as possible must be got out of the purview of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act. For the time...
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NABARD now offers loans to corporate sector-Nagesh Prabhu
-The Hindu Bangalore: In a major shift in its lending practice, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has opened a lending window to the corporate sector for construction of warehouses and creation of cold storages and cold chains. NABARD had only been granting soft loans to State governments for social sector projects. Speaking to The Hindu on Monday, G.R. Chintala, Chief General Manager (CGM), Regional Office, Bangalore, said it was...
More »Retail FDI: an imagined solution-VK Madhavan
-Live Mint FDI or not, there are problems that plague Indian agriculture and will need to be fixed first With the parliamentary vote on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail out of the way, the government will proceed with the liberalization of this sector as it thinks it will improve the prospects of agriculture. Should we be worried about our small neighbourhood stores shutting down? The fears are overblown. Organized large-format retail...
More »Support price plan for forest produce-Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph Over 10 crore tribal people who earn their living by selling minor forest produce can now look forward to a better deal. State governments and the Planning Commission have backed a proposal to fix a uniform minimum support price for 13 such items by an independent commission. The ministry of tribal affairs is likely to take up the proposal for setting up a National Minor Forest Produce Price Commission (NMFPPC) with...
More »A good monsoon is an occasion to invest in a major overhaul of farm policy
-The Economic Times India will have a normal monsoon this year, says the Met office. This is good news, even though the forecast does not rule out some slack during the second half of the season. What matters finally is the distribution of rainfall across space and time rather than the aggregate percentages. However, a good monsoon is only one side of the story to have a strong farm sector. Reforms are...
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