The Economic Times

Referring to the submission made to the inter-ministerial central team that had visited the district early this week to assess the crop loss, Kalyanam appealed to the state government to seek release of compensation for crop damage from the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at the rate of Rs 30,000 per acre. The state government should also request the Centre to entrust the entire crop insurance scheme to the Agriculture Insurance Company of India and avoid private insurance companies, which are oriented only towards profit, he added.

India Infoline

An additional fund of Rs 2000 crore could be provided in this budget to meet the same objective. An interest subvention of 1.80% along with NABARD’s administrative cost of 0.20% will be provided as per the scheme run by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW).

The Times of India

With the northeast monsoon failing to impress, farmers of Visakhapatnam district who have planted their second crop of the year are worried about the impact of the dry weather and falling water tables. The second crop in the district, especially in the upland areas and dry plains, are chiefly lentil crops such as sesame, horse gram, black gram and other types of dal.

Hindustan Times

Next generation satellite INSAT-3DR has opened new frontiers in India’s weather forecasting and is set to equip the country with the ability to detect farm fires — which intensify air pollution in the northern region seasonally, leaving Delhi gasping for breath.

The Hans India

Purchasing of paddy through government agencies is remaining on papers and traders are procuring it from farmers by offering Rs 150 less than the minimum support price (MSP). The government fixed Rs 1,510 as MSP for A grade and Rs 1,470 for normal variety of paddy, but traders are paying Rs 1,360 and Rs 1,320 to farmers per quintal.

International Business Times

The total area sown under Rabi crops in India until January 27, 2017, reached 63.7 million hectares, up 6.2 percent from 60 million hectares sown for the same period during 2015-16, as per the sowing data released by the Ministry of Agriculture.

India Today

Jai Kisan Andolan of Swaraj Abhiyan and a few other farmer organisations are planning to hold a Kisan Sansad that is Farmers’ Parliament at Jantar Mantar parallel to the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1, same day and time when the Union Budget will be announced.

The New Indian Express

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will have Bharat on his mind when he unveils the 2017 Union Budget for India, on Wednesday, under the heavy shadow of demonetisation. Multilateral agencies have lowered India’s GDP growth projections for the next financial year to about 6 per cent from 7.3 per cent.

The Hans India

25 years of economic reforms in India have failed to achieve expected growth in the field of agriculture, expressed the speakers at the International Conference on ‘25 years of Economic Reforms in India’. However, the reforms regime has helped the private corporate sector to thrive albeit with fluctuations in domestic markets, regional imbalances, disparities in the inter-state growth rates. The post reform period has not been inclusive, the experts opined.

The Hindu Business Line

There is little doubt that demonetisation has affected rural livelihoods even though its mid-term impacts remain uncertain. In this context, many expect the Budget to make substantive announcements that can significantly impact rural livelihoods. A comprehensive agri-rural package is required to put the economy back on a sustainable growth path.

Business Standard

Keeping the farm activities in mind, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has decided to set up weather stations in 660 districts of the country, a plan which will be further taken up to the blocks level. In the first phase, the IMD plans to set up the system in 130 districts which have already been shortlisted.