-The Financial Express Pune: This season, the increasing incidence of crop damage by pink bollworm in the early stages of cotton planting has evoked concern among farmers in Maharahstra. Even as the state government administration has asked farmers to remain vigilant on the pest infestation, industry people have raised concerns if farmers could afford the solutions required. Senior scientists at the Central Institute of Cotton Research ( CICR), Nagpur said that...

-The Indian Express For farmers, a uniform 2 per cent premium rate on sum insured (SI) for all kharif or monsoon season foodgrains and oilseeds, while 1.5 per cent for rabi winter crops and 5 per cent for annual commercial and horticultural crops, is the lowest they can hope for. The country couldn’t possibly have, at least on paper, a better agricultural crop insurance scheme than the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima...

-The Indian Express While Gujarat comes on top in terms of providing placement through exchanges, it isn’t the top state when it comes to the number of job-seekers. That’s Tamil Nadu with more than 80 lakh registrations with employment exchanges in first nine months of 2015, as against Gujarat which had only 6.88 lakh registrations. With the exception of Gujarat, where employment exchanges have consistently clocked an over 30 per cent...

-PTI New Delhi: Tomato prices have risen to around Rs. 100 per kg in the national capital market as supplies from major producing states have been disrupted because of heavy rains. Mother Dairy is selling tomatoes at Rs. 96 per kg here through its 300 retail stores ‘Safal’, while online grocery platforms like Big Basket and Grofers are offering this key vegetable at nearly Rs. 100 per kg. Local vendors are selling tomatoes...

-Centre for Science and Environment New Delhi: Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) released here today the first detailed independent evaluation and analysis of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) – government’s flagship national agricultural insurance programme. Across the world, agriculture insurance is recognised as an important part of the safety net for farmers to deal with the impacts of extreme and unseasonal weather due to climate change. Releasing the report...