-Livemint.com Payment to cane growers is considered ‘due’ when it is delayed by more than 14 days after supplying raw cane to a mill New Delhi: Following higher sugar production and plummeting wholesale prices, dues to sugarcane farmers from mills are piling up, shows latest numbers. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), till January end, sugar mills across various states owed farmers Rs13,932 crore. Payment to cane growers is considered ‘due’...

-The Hindu Rather than just increased budgetary outlays, farmers need plans that will rescue them from crop failure Similar to the last two Budgets, this year’s pro-agriculture intentions are palpable through increased outlays to the agricultural sector and initiation of various programmes. They seem impressive, but closer scrutiny shows that the measures may be of little help to stem the tide of agrarian distress. There are some real challenges confronting three...

-Livemint.com Linking MSPs to a multiple of costs and ignoring other dynamics, such as demand and global prices, risks creating distortions and disincentivizing productivity Government policymaking seems to be making a volte-face from supporting consumers (by keeping food inflation low), to supporting producers (by raising food prices). In the 2018-19 Union budget, the government “decided to keep minimum support prices (MSP) for all unannounced crops of kharif at least at one-and-a-half times of...

-The Hindu KM Yadav of Kanpur emerges as a saviour for rural people GUNTUR (Vijayawada): An RTI activist from Uttar Pradesh, who runs his office from a tea stall in Kanpur, has emerged as an unlikely saviour for people tired of making rounds to government offices. Krishna Murari Yadav may not flex his muscles like Munna Bhai, but earned the title of K.M. Bhai from the residents of villages around Kanpur for addressing...

-The Hindu The ambitious plan to help farmers earn from solar power generation hinges on small details Electricity is a major concern in rural India, especially for farmers. The Government of India has come up with an original plan to address this problem. Instead of transmitting electricity to the farmers, the government, to start with, wants farmers to use solar energy to power their irrigation pumps. According to the January 2018 report...