-The Business Standard Says increase in the subsidised foodgrain allocation will put pressure on the food subsidy bill Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday said the government has no plans to raise subsidised foodgrain allocations under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from 5 kg to 7 kg a person a month. Under the Act, each eligible person gets 5 kg of rice at Rs 5 a kg or wheat at...

-The Hindu No agency provided any prior warning about the massive floods in Jammu and Kashmir "What suddenly caused Jammu and Kashmir to be ravaged by floods?" is now the raging question. As families of victims struggle to come to terms with the large-scale impact of the tragedy and as people all over the country attempt to understand the reasons for it, it remains to be seen how deep this concern really...

-The New Indian Express   SAMBALPUR: Shortage of Urea fertilizer has adversely affected farming activities in Western Odisha districts and left farmers in a lurch. While well-off farmers are purchasing it at a premium from open market, the small and marginal ones are sitting with their fingers crossed waiting for the Agriculture Department to come to their aid. Urea has the highest nitrogen content of all solid nitrogenous fertilizers. It has nitrogen...

In the midst of irregular monsoons affecting agriculture, a new report shows stagnation in the state of irrigation infrastructure. The recent report entitled Infrastructure Statistics 2014 (Third Issue) by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has provided information that despite the rise in expenditure on irrigation infrastructure, there has been no substantial improvement in the gross irrigation potential utilized*. Athough expenditure on irrigation has increased from Rs. 36561.64 crores...

-Deccan Chronicle Hyderabad: Organic products now cost 15 to 35 per cent more than other products as supply is not being distributed uniformly. storage cost too is high and certification for growing these products, per acre costs Rs 50,000. Farmers are now demanding government support for a resource system. According to experts, there are currently two major reasons why organic products are expensive. The distribution of production is not uniform. For instance,...