Huffington Post

Narendra Modi leaned to whisper in the ear of the man sitting cross-legged and barefoot next to him, the one clad in saffron robes with a long beard and squinty gaze. It was late in the afternoon of March 23, 2014 in New Delhi and the start of national elections was a fortnight away. A few minutes later, the yoga guru and entrepreneur known as Baba Ramdev turned to a microphone and urged the crowd before him to mobilize votes for Modi: “You’ll make other people understand, won’t you? You won’t sit at home, will you?” The crowd roared back, “No!”

Financial Express 

Farmers should increasingly become entrepreneurs to find homegrown solutions to their problems rather than relying on the government, Helianti Hilman, a progressive natural farming expert from Indonesia, has urged. “When you are an entrepreneur, you think of innovations. An entrepreneurial mindset is very important for farmers because most of the time they keep complaining that they are small farmers and do not have access to finance or markets.

The Times of India

University (TNAU) is constantly on the rise. Last year, 39,772 applications were received, and this year the university has received 39,491. With 10 more days left for the closing date, the university expects to receive nearly 45,000 applications.

The News Today

The agriculture ministry is not reconciled to the grip which Monsanto has on the Indian cottonseed industry owing to the immense preference for its patented, genetically-modified (GM) bollworm-resistance traits. The post Cropping Monsanto’s patent rights appeared first on The Financial Express .

The Indian Express

Amidst the predictable tidal wave of opinion pieces to mark the Narendra Modi government’s third anniversary, one little event last week squeezed its way into the inside pages of a few newspapers. This was a call for a “farm strike” in Maharashtra from June 1, entailing, among other things, cutting off vegetable and milk supplies to Mumbai and Pune.

The Hindu

But on reaching the site, the official realised that he was tricked by the farmers to visit the village to listen to their grievances related to crop damage caused by wild elephants.

DNA

Union minister Venkaiah Naidu today said the state government is working to ensure that farmers have 24/7 power supply, even as he emphasised on the need for diversification of crops to boost agri sector.

Kashmir Observer

Minister for Agriculture, Ghulam Nabi Lone Hanjura, today called making concerted efforts to boost organic farming in the State. The Minister was speaking during one-day conference cum workshop on ‘Doubling Farmers’ Income in J&K by 2022 organized by Department of Agriculture at Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (SKUAST)-Jammu in Chatha.

B First

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of doubling farmers’ income by 2022 can be realised only through partnership with state governments, Union Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu said on Wednesday. The Centre is working on four ‘Is’ — irrigation, infrastructure, interest rate and insurance — to boost income of Indian farmers, he said while inaugurating the Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet (GRAM) here.

The Arvind Times

Describing Monsanto and Bayer – two multinational companies pushing GM crops in India – as a “cartel”, Shiva said they “monopolised” GM crop cultivation and removed all obstacles in the way. Monsanto India declined to comment on the charges levelled by the activist. Shiva said two former Congress ministers, seen as stumbling blocks for GM crop cultivation in India, had lost their portfolios.

The Financial Express

Naidu said the country is making progress in every sector but there are more efforts needed in the agriculture sector. The minister further said that imparting latest technological knowledge, development of advanced markets, agro-processing facilities and development of basic infrastructure are necessary for farmers. “We need to develop villages and cities simultaneously if we want to develop the nation. Keeping this in view Smart City and Adarsh Gram schemes have been launched by the Centre,” Naidu said.

The Financial Express

Naidu said the country is making progress in every sector but there are more efforts needed in the agriculture sector. The minister further said that imparting latest technological knowledge, development of advanced markets, agro-processing facilities and development of basic infrastructure are necessary for farmers. “We need to develop villages and cities simultaneously if we want to develop the nation. Keeping this in view Smart City and Adarsh Gram schemes have been launched by the Centre,” Naidu said. Praising the Global Rajasthan Agritech Meet organised in Jaipur in November 2016, he said it was a unique event of its kind and had been instrumental in extending benefits to thousands of farmers in the state.

The New Indian Express

As kharif crops are sown with the advent of first rains, the administration has decided to streamline availability of seeds and fertilisers besides distribution of the same. At a joint meeting of the Agriculture and Cooperation Departments under the chairmanship of Deputy Director of Agriculture (DDA) RN Satpathy it was also targeted to boost mechanised farming.

Business Standard

The forecast of a good monsoon and projected rise in basmati paddy sowing is likely to mean more earnings for its exporters in the current season, though the volume of shipments is not expected to change. Of all paddy production, basmati accounts for about 6.6 million tonnes (mt); last year’s sowing was on 1.6 mn hectares.

The Indian Awaaz

Union Minister for Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu today said, the government was giving priority to agriculture in the country. Inaugurating the Gram Rajasthan Agri-tech Meet in Kota, Mr Naidu stressed on the use of technology, research, storage and better management in the agriculture activities to enhance the income of farmers. He said, the Centre allocated 1 lakh 60,000 crore rupees for agriculture in its current fiscal budget.

The Economic Times

India has said that the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will benefit farmers and reduce food inflation, as grain and milk would remain exempted under the new regime that would put in place a single levy instead of multiple taxes. “With the GST coming, inflation will come down by 2%,” federal farm minister Radhamohan Singh said in New Delhi. There has been no major increase in tax slabs for agriculture produce, and it was beneficial for both farmers and consumers, Singh said.

The Shillong Times

Another challenge according to the agriculture ministry officials is the irregularities in crop cutting experiments. “Crop cutting experiments are being done since Independence but no one bothered how it is done, if done actually or just on paper. There is no clarity. Since launch of the new crop insurance scheme, huge vested interests have come up for assessment of crop cutting experiments,” the official said.

Indian Food Freak

Well the problem is something different. We are not eating ‘real’ food. Lot of accolades have been given for starting the ‘Green Revolution’ in India which was largely led by increasing crop production by using high yielding crop varieties and use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides in the 1960’s. We have come a long way since then. Not only are we using far more chemicals and artificial ways to ripen fruits and vegetables, the soil has stopped responding to non chemical farming. Those who have heard about Monsanto know that Monsanto has come out with high yielding seeds that have been genetically modified.

The Hindu

The clusters have been established in Hirebettu, Kadur, Kattingeri, Belinje, Japti and Teggarse by the Department of Agriculture, with the help of NGOs. Under the yojane, a Dakshina Kannada, Chikkamagaluru and Udupi Districts Regional Cooperative Organic Farmers Associations’ Federation has been set up.

The Financial Express

In a bid to help farmers deal with the vagaries of weather, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) would launch localised weather forecasting at blocks across 600-odd districts by 2019. M Rajeevan, secretary, ministry of earth sciences said that currently weather forecast is being provided at district level through daily updates. The Met department does not provide rainfall and other weather-related forecast at the block level.

The Hindu Business Line

The opportunities are endless and as the case of GM mustard and Bt Brinjal. Indian scientists are up to the challenge of being the food factory not just for their own country but to other countries as well provided the policy scenario favours scientific innovations in biotechnology.

The Hindu Business Line

With the Union Ministry of Environment expected to take a call on genetically-modified (GM) mustard soon, activists, including RSS-affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), are once again questioning the justification of allowing the transgenic crop.