-PTI Due to a bumper crop, wholesale prices of tomato in Madhya Pradesh have plummeted to as low as Rs 2 per kg, from Rs 30 in October, farmers said. Yogesh Septa, a farmer from Raipuria village in Petlawad area of Jhabua district, a major tomato-producing region, said, "We are getting on average Rs 2 per kilogram of Tomatoes in wholesale markets. We won't recover even the production and harvesting cost at...

-Hindustan Times In an effort to relieve farmers’ economic distress, the Centre included in the Union Budget an increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for monsoon crops and pledged Rs 500 crore to Operation Greens, a programme to help growers of Tomatoes, onions, and potatoes. New Delhi: The benefits from the Union Budget’s concessions to agriculture will not be shared equally among Indian farmers. Dalits, in particular, may lose out on the...

-The Indian Express Price deficiency payment schemes in Madhya Pradesh and Haryana do not cover farmers’ losses. Telangana’s input support scheme deserves nation-wide emulation. Farm distress is likely to be one of the major focal points of the upcoming Union Budget. Agri-GDP growth has fallen to around 2 per cent per annum in the first four years of the Modi government; the real incomes of farmers have fallen as well. The growth...

-The Economic Times After Gujarat returned the ruling BJP with a slim margin, the chorus of the establishment was "jo jeeta wohi sikandar" (He who wins is the king). It seemed apt, considering that the party retained Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, bunking anti-incumbency of 22 years. But opposition wags responded with "jo sikha wohi sikandar", he who learns will be king, in 2019, in the next general elections. Rural Gujarat,...

-Hindustan Times The Rs 7,000-crore sector in Himalayan states reels under high temperature, low rainfall The drought-like situation prevailing in the northwest Himalayas may spell bad news for the Rs 7,000-crore apple economy that sustains people residing in the upper regions of Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir. This winter has been one of the warmest in the last decade, weather department officials said. Apple orchards usually need 500 to 1,000 chilling hours (with temperatures ranging...