-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Agriculture Government restructured the ongoing scheme and following centrally sponsored Mission/Schemes are under implementation from 1.4.2014: (i) National Food Security Mission (NFSM) (ii) National Horticulture Mission (iii) National Mission on Oilseeds & Oil Palm (iv) National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) including Micro Irrigation (v) National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (vi) Integrated Scheme for Farmers Income Security (vii) Integrated Scheme on Agri. Census & Statistics (viii) Integrated Scheme on Agriculture Marketing (ix)...

-The Indian Express The scheme should be refocused towards creating durable assets in agriculture. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has a significant influence on agricultural operations and cultivation costs. If its present focus on community works can be reoriented to proactively promote improvements on the landholdings of small and marginal farmers through the creation of durable assets, it will be beneficial for agricultural productivity and incomes. Critics say that...

-The Diplomat   Climate change is stressing an already struggling farm sector, but there is a way forward. Over the last decade, India's official position in global climate negotiations has been one of opposition to agricultural mitigation. At Doha (COP18), India joined other developing countries in demanding that any talk about agriculture must be in the realm of adaptation, not mitigation. India considers the farm sector out of bounds with respect to emissions...

-Live Mint   Recent Maoist violence highlights the conflicts that centre around the model of India's economic growth   New Delhi: The deaths of nine people from violence related directly to the general election-occurring in and around polling booths-are an early warning to the next government that it must start thinking about how to balance economic growth with social justice and equity, experts said.   These deaths-mostly in areas hit by Maoist violence-highlight the conflicts that...

-The Business Standard   Of the 46 projects, some have been scaled up after completion of pilot projects Chennai: The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has supported 46 innovative projects, through its Nabard-SDC Rural Innovation Fund (RIF), as on February 2014. The fund was set up jointly with the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation (SDC). These projects were sponsored so as to create more jobs in the rural areas...