Prof Abhijit Sen, member of the Planning Commission, discusses Budget provisions related to the agriculture sector in an interview with Rajesh Bhayani and Sanjeeb Mukherjee. Sen feels, futures trading in essentials commodities like wheat and rice should not be allowed. According to him, India should follow China in having an agency for procuring commodities from the global market. There seems to a renewed focus in this Budget on ancillary items of...

Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has been able to convey the impression that the agricultural sector was a key area of policy focus for his budget, but just about. He has chosen some good policies and programmes to boost agricultural development, but has done so in a half-hearted manner. Whether the agricultural sector actually benefits from his attention remains to be seen given that he has been niggardly in the...

In a bonanza to the farming community, the government on Monday announced loans at interest rate of four per cent -- three per cent less than market rate -- for farmers who pay their dues in time and raised the credit target for farm sector by Rs 1 lakh crore. "The existing interest subvention scheme of providing short-term crop loans at seven per cent interest rate will continue during the 2011-12...

Buoyed by its success in increasing pulses production in India through effective implementation of National Food Security Mission (NFSM), the government is likely to bring production of millet and Fodder under the mission’s ambit in the forthcoming Budget. The programme which will be on the lines of accelerated pulses production programme (A3P) is expected to be operationalised in the next one year. Officials said this programme, which would be part of NFSM...

In 2-3 years after implementation, money generation was seen Melaneelithanallur village in Tirunelveli district is bone dry most of the year. Lack of water for crops over the years turned the soil into dry wastelands, considered unfit for use. “Until a few years ago, almost all the farmers in the region wallowed in debt and poverty. Many households lacked even proper metal utensils for cooking as the inhabitants used to pawn...