-The Indian Express The farmer organisations have been demanding minimum income guarantee scheme, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report and waiver of farmers' debt. New Delhi: Demanding remunerative prices for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations and farm loan waivers among other things, farmers across the country continued their agitation Saturday as part of a 10-day long nationwide strike. In the wake of the dwindling fresh supplies of farm produce in...

-The Indian Express Government godowns are, for the first time, bursting at the seams with pulses on record procurement Pune: When in mid-December, Anand Pawar decided to register the standing tur (pigeon-pea) on 10 out of his 50-acre holding with the Maharashtra State Cooperative Marketing Federation’s purchase centre at Latur, he was quite hopeful of realising the government’s minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 5,450 per quintal for the soon-to-be-harvested crop. At...

-MoneyLife.in Recently and at last, Maharashtra has appointed a Chief Information Commissioner under the Right to Informaation (RTI) Act, and it is no surprise that he happens to be a former bureaucrat.  Sumit Mallik, who just retired as Chief Secretary, takes over the chair, which was lying vacant since the last several months. The trend of appointing civil servants for the posts of CICs and Informaction Commissioners (ICs) has continued ever since...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has granted anticipatory bail to four people accused under the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act two months after ruling against the act's provisions that mandate automatic arrests and prohibit anticipatory bail. Maharashtra-based gender rights activist Trupti Desai, her husband and two others associated with her NGO had been accused of abusing a Dalit by his caste and robbing him in July last year. The...

-India Climate Dialogue It does not depend on erratic electricity supply from the grid Sandeep Alse, a farmer who grows fruits and vegetables in Marathwada, a drought-prone region in Maharashtra, found it difficult to reach the market with his produce on time, due to poor infrastructure. The lack of cold storage facility in the vicinity added to his woes and much of his harvest was spoiled, making it difficult for him to...