-The Indian Express Agriculture Ministry’s harvest estimates don’t square with drought conditions in several cases, raise serious questions of credibility. We have had two consecutive drought years, yet India’s milk production, according to the Agriculture Ministry, has risen from 137.69 million tonnes (mt) in 2013-14 to 146.31 mt in 2014-15 and 160.35 mt in 2015-16. Never before has the country’s milk output grown at these rates — that too, in the face...

-The Hindu The Maharashtra government’s decision to promulgate an ordinance this week to exempt farmers from having to mandatorily sell their fruit and vegetable crop at mandis governed by a 1963 law on marketing farm produce, is a bold and laudable step. That Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has stood his ground against the powerful lobby of middlemen, who shut shop in protest, is even more commendable. The problem with the present...

-Down to Earth Desperate to check growing prices, the country plans to encourage domestic players to grow pulses in Myanmar despite having bad experiences in the past Faced with shortage of pulses and increasing prices, India plans to encourage private companies to acquire land for exclusively growing pulses in Myanmar and supply them back to India. Myanmar is the largest exporter of pulses to India. According to a senior agriculture ministry...

-The Hindu Business Line Supplementary nutrition scheme to be standardised New Delhi: The flagship Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), which aims to provide nutritious food to children aged 0-6, is being revamped and may be standardised to address the issue of “high” malnutrition. As per the Global Nutrition Report, 39 per cent of children (0-5 years) in India are stunted, much higher than the global average of 24 per cent. Tackling malnutrition The Women &...

-The Financial Express Just implement the CACP report on this Given how the prices of pulses have been in the Rs 150-200 per kg range in the last year, it is not surprising the government is trying to augment production—the measures include more imports and relooking the minimum support price (MSP) and assured procurement. What makes little sense, though, is setting up of another committee under chief economic advisor Arvind Subramanian to...