-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government has opposed the Shanta Kumar Committee's recommendation for direct cash transfer through the public distribution system (PDS) instead of subsidised food grain supply to the beneficiaries. Officially, the state's opposition is based on the argument that cash transfer would affect farmers, as procurement from them would stop. However, sources said the state was worried about the move's fallout on its scheme providing rice to the poor...

-NDTV Lucknow: Unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March have brought Uttar Pradesh to the brink of an agrarian crisis, affecting 25 of the state's 80 districts. Crop losses have dealt a particularly severe blow to landless farmers, who are emerging the invisible casualties of the agrarian crisis. Unseasonal rain has destroyed crops on large tracts of farmland. And landless farmers, who usually till farmlands leased or rented from landowners, fall through...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: A staggering Rs 460 crore disbursed by the Maharashtra government as compensation for drought-hit farmers has come right back to the state's coffers. The key reason it could not be distributed, officials admit, is that lakhs of farmers impacted by the calamity do not have bank accounts - now a mandatory requirement for aid recipients. Since 2014, Maharashtra has been allotting aid only to bank accounts of...

-Frontline.in   The Modi government has apparently realised that the private sector is not up to the task of driving growth. It hopes to fund its neoliberal dream of India becoming the fastest-growing emerging market through a combination of off-Budget borrowing and drastic expenditure reduction in key social sectors. IT will soon be a year since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office at the Centre....

-The Hindu Business Line   Farmers across Uttar Pradesh and Punjab lament weather woes and lack of social security Consumers may be bracing themselves for rising prices of vegetables and fruits, but the unseasonal heavy showers and hailstorms through the first half of March have already dealt a significant blow to farmers across much of the northern, central and western belts. Agriculture Ministry estimates earlier this week showed that Rabi crops in about 181...