-DNA State policies favouring certain food crops have rendered pulses forbiddingly expensive and the common man is feeling the pinch The huge spurt in dal prices, touching Rs180 per kilogram and even Rs200 in some cities, has come as a dampener to the festive season, and raised questions about the policies of the government. For some years now, India has been resorting to huge imports of pulses to meet domestic demand...

-Livemint.com Given condition of land records and problems in identifying actual beneficiaries, the task is gigantic, say analysts New Delhi: The Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) of Fertilizer Subsidies may not see the light of day anytime soon. “The roll-out of DBT in fertilizer will take some time because there are various hurdles,” said a government official, who is working on DBT. The official, who requested anonymity, said that “this is more challenging”...

-Business Standard Indian farming is labour intensive as mechanization is expensive. This model might change it while keeping the cost very low. The single biggest challenge in farming is debt. A large share of farmers’ insurmountable debt burden comes from purchase of farm equipment. Mechanized farming results in higher productivity but is notoriously capital intensive. A 40 HP tractor with 2 basic implements (a rotavator and a cultivator) and a trolley costs...

-The Hindu At present, the subsidy is paid to urea producers and importers, not farmers. Consensus continues to elude the Centre on the politically sensitive reform of the urea sector, where it has accumulated an unpaid subsidy bill of Rs. 40,000 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a meeting of senior Ministers and officials last Tuesday, which discussed if the subsidy could be provided directly to farmers through the direct benefit transfer...

-The Hindu CHINNAMANUR (Tamil Nadu): Paddy growers in Cumbum valley have successfully harvested rice fallow pulses, third crop in a year, thanks to summer rain in the last month. They had raised green gram in lands where they harvested paddy, the second crop in the valley. Summer rain had kept the paddy field wet after harvest, which was sufficient to raise the third crop. “To capitalise on the summer rain, we had recommended...