-PTI An Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on drought headed by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday approved Rs 1,207 crore relief package to Maharashtra. “Rs 1,207 crore drought relief package has been approved for Maharashtra,” Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, who is also a member of the EGoM, said after the meeting of the Ministers. Out of the total amount, Rs 807 crore will be released under the National Disaster Relief Fund to...

-Outlook The agriculture sector witnessed record foodgrains output of 257.44 million tonnes in this year enabling the country to become world's largest rice exporter for the first time, but the monsoon played spoilsport dashing farmers' hopes of an encore in 2013. A hefty increase of Rs 1 lakh crore in farm credit target to Rs 5.75 lakh crore was a major highlight for the sector in 2012, while the continuing farmers suicide...

-Frontline Farmers protest against the Central clearance for coal bed methane exploration in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, as they fear it will devastate agriculture in Tiruvarur and Thanjavur districts.  THE woes of the delta farmers of Tamil Nadu are far from over. While the Cauvery tangle continues unresolved, they fear the proposed multi-crore project for commercial exploration and exploitation of coal bed methane (CBM) in the Mannargudi block of Tiruvarur district will prove...

-Live Mint FDI or not, there are problems that plague Indian agriculture and will need to be fixed first  With the parliamentary vote on foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail out of the way, the government will proceed with the liberalization of this sector as it thinks it will improve the prospects of agriculture.   Should we be worried about our small neighbourhood stores shutting down? The fears are overblown. Organized large-format retail...

-First Post Predictably, the recommendation by an experts’ panel appointed by the Supreme Court  - that trials of genetically modified (GM) crops should be halted for 10 years – has stirred a hornet’s nest. Such a moratorium would include ongoing trials and the court rejected it. This follows on the heels of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture’s 492-page report published in August which asked for the banning of GM food crops...