-PTI Inflation, as measured on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), has been in the negative zone since November, 2014. Deflationary pressure continued for the sixth month in a row with inflation dropping to a new low of (-)2.65 per cent in April, mainly on account of decline in prices of fuel and manufactured items even as food prices increased. Inflation, as measured on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), has been in the negative...

-ANI Greening the barren land in Jharkhand and West Bengal Deoghar: Standing amid the road in Kasuadi village in Jharkhand, Deevani Mahato looks intently towards the contrasting landscape stretching across on both sides of the road. Wet green fields of wheat, mustard and grams, separated by the bunds of mud, cover the land on one side. Barren tracts of red soil full of dry bushes and stones stretch on the other. "By next...

-The Indian Express Policy played a major role in helping the state claim no. 2 spot in wheat procurement. Vidisha: For Sandeep Baghel, the spanking state-of-the-art silos about 8 km from the mandi here are symbolic of the sheer transformation in the infrastructure for procurement and storage of grains, from the chaos of the past when farmers like him spent days on end to sell their wheat to state agencies. But the awe...

A recent press release from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that the area affected by recent rains and hailstorms is estimated to be 189.81 lakh hectares (on 24 April 2015), which is nearly double the total area affected that was earlier estimated on 16 April 2015. (See the link below). Experts argue that such extreme weather events may severely damage food economy of the nation, apart from breaking the spirit...

-The Indian Express As the toll of human misery and suicide mounts, official estimates of farm losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March remain controversial, with hasty downward revision. Since these estimates are largely notional, without validation from field visits, such revision smacks of deliberate fiddling. On March 24, the agriculture ministry reported that crops on 18 million hectares — about 30 per cent of the rabi crops —...