PTI News

Maharashtra government has decided to give additional financial incentives of Rs 200 per quintal than the minimum support price sanctioned by the Centre for paddy for 2016-17 sowing season. “The decision will provide big relief to paddy growers who are burdened by cost of production,” state Agriculture Minister Pandurang Phundkar said.

The Hindu

Contrary to the popular belief that paddy is a water-guzzling crop, this progressive farmer from T. Narsipur in Mysuru district has reaped rich dividends this drought-hit season with just 25 per cent of the normal water usage. With reduced cost of cultivation, M.K. Kailash Murthy has turned the current agricultural economics upside down at a time when many of his ilk are abandoning the profession because of poor returns and increased expenditure.

The Hans India

State Congress official spokesperson Kolanukonda Sivaji demanded that the State government provide Minimum Support Price (MSP) to paddy farmers. In a press release here on Wednesday, Sivaji said farmers were being denied MSP in the kharif season and they were at the mercy of rice millers.

Kashmir Images

Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu on Wednesday said that the state has worked out a comprehensive insurance scheme for nine crops and asked the government departments to submit inventories of machinery and equipments so they are insured. “Despite the spate of natural calamities in the past and recurring violent civil strife that we are faced with, the state has neither insured its own assets nor has it been able to give insurance cover to private businesses, be it in agriculture, horticulture, other crops or to SMEs,” said Drabu in the legislature.

The Hindu Business Line

In the recent numbers released by the National Crimes Records Bureau (NCRB), Telangana stood second only to Maharashtra, with 1,400 farmers and farm labourers ending lives in the year 2015-16. The State had accounted for nearly 10 per cent of all 12,000 farm suicides reported that year.

Hindustan Times

Enthused with spike in maize production in four districts of southern Rajasthan, the agriculture dept now plans to increase the sowing area for the crop next season. The move, if implemented systematically, will improve the income of tribals, said agriculture minister Prabhu Lal Saini.

The Indian Express

THE ASSOCIATED Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India aka ASSOCHAM released a paper on Wednesday, highlighting Punjab’s slow economic growth in the past 10 years along with its dismal performance in service as well as agriculture sectors. The paper, titled ‘Action agenda for new government of Punjab’, says the state’s overall economic growth rate reached its lowest level of 4.9 per cent in 2014-15 from 10.2 per cent in 2006-07. A marginal improvement was witnessed in 2015-16, when it increased to 5.96 per cent compared to the previous year but Punjab’s contribution to India’s economy has declined from 3.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 2.9 per cent in 2015-16.

The Indian Awaaz

India Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister, Radha Mohan Singh Wednesday met Israeli delegation led by the Agriculture and Rural Development Minister of Israel, Uri Ariel to discuss issues relating to bilateral cooperation in agriculture between India and Israel. Both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress made in cooperation in the agriculture and allied sectors between the two countries.

India.com

India and Kenya have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the agriculture sector and allied sector and Line of Credit for USD100 million for agricultural mechanisation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta held delegation level talks and praised the strength of the re-invigorated partnership between the two countries, which serves to increase stability, prosperity, and security in the Indian Ocean region and in the Asia-Pacific.

Business Standard

National Institution for Transforming Indian (NITI) Aayog is in favour of keeping the threshold for the income tax (I-T) exemption intact at Rs 2.5 lakh. Instead, they want to extend the tax (10%) on the Rs 5 lakh slab to Rs 7 lakh. Officials said that the Aayog favours expansion of the tax base to enable more people to pay taxes, rather than expanding the exemption limits.

The Arunachal Times

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has launched the Potential Linked Credit Plan (PLP) for Changlang district on Wednesday. It was launched by Deputy Commissioner Wajong Khimhun, and District Development Manager, NABARD, Changlang Kamal Roy.