-The Navhind Times   THAT climate will remain in a state of flux is a given. The fallout of global warming will be periodic extreme heat and drought, as was experienced by the United States and some other food-exporting countries in 2012, sending food prices close to record levels. At the same time, many countries, including China and India will experience heavy rains and floods from time to time, damaging food production. Even...

-The Hindu Business Line   Loan write-offs will become redundant if we have a robust crop insurance system The Chief Minister of residual Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu may have bought time in implementing his lavish pre-poll promise of waiving ₹54,000 crore worth of farm loans. The decision to appoint an expert committee to recommend guidelines on the waiver may well be a ploy to defer - even soften - the impact of...

-PTI   Delhi government will track the trucks carrying foodgrains with the help of Global Positioning System (GPS) and Radio-frequency identification (RFID) devices to curb the menace of diversion of rations meant for lakhs of families which are below the poverty line. Also, SMS will be sent to the ration card holders attached to that fair price shop (FPS) about the arrival of ration commodities. The system is likely to be functional in...

-The Hindu Business Line     A government run by a bevy of economists with no sense of the ground reality made mistakes. Some really big ones As the new government settles down to tackle the myriad problems confronting it, it's worth taking a quick glance at the principal reasons for the spectacular unravelling of the UPA-2 government. A defining characteristic of UPA-2 was that it was led by an economist and supported by prominent...

-The Indian Express   Farmers' groups point to lack of marketing support, MSAMB blames internal shortcomings. Pune: Almost two years after the state government introduced the concept of direct selling of fruits and vegetables by farmers' groups, lack of awareness drives and internal shortcomings seem to have impeded its success. At present, 68 farmers' groups are directly selling their products at 226 locations in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The initiative to allow farmers to directly...