-The Indian Express Among the Modi government’s many hits was one crucial miss — agriculture. The Narendra Modi sarkar’s performance in the first year has at least five major achievements and one major miss. To ensure that this neglect does not become its Achilles’ heel, the Modi sarkar will have to focus on and initiate reforms in this weakest link in the chain — agriculture. Else, it will not let the Indian...

-The Indian Express Poorly designed policies are largely to blame for farm distress Successive governments have transformed an unevenly prosperous rural society to one which is evenly distressed. Small and marginal Farmers now feel worse off than the landless. Most suicides have taken place in the families of such Farmers, especially those with no source of non-farm income. For the sense of desperation that now pervades rural India, all political parties are...

-Livemint.com/ Bloomberg Modi is facing resentment among rural households that became accustomed to large wage increases under his predecessor New Delhi: In the wheat fields stretching across northern India, Farmers like Dalvir Sharma are starting to turn on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sharma, 51, voted for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) last year after it promised to stem rising prices in the market. Now he’s struggling to pay back a Rs.100,000 loan...

-HarvestPlus.org Washington DC: A new study has found that pearl millet bred to be richer in iron was able to reverse iron deficiency in school-aged Indian children in six months. In just four months, iron levels improved significantly. Previously, the same iron-rich pearl millet had been shown to provide iron-deficient Indian children under the age of three with enough iron to meet their daily needs, and adult women in Benin with more...

-PTI RAIPUR: Scientists here have developed a high zinc-enriched variety of rice that is expected to play a crucial role in fighting malnutrition in tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh where nearly seven lakh children are still malnourished. The new paddy seed, called "Chhattisgarh Zinc Rice-1", the first zinc biofortified rice variety in India, was launched by the state variety release committee, the authority for official release of new varieties of seeds, in March and its...