India Today

Farmers in Karnataka are smiling. For ages, they were at the mercy of traders and commission agents who dictated prices, even for premium produce. But suddenly now, the world has become their marketplace. Among the early movers in implementing agriculture market reforms, the state has connected 157 of its 162 agri markets to the United Markets Platform (UMP), a portal that facilitates online bidding for produce. Consequently, Tiptur’s prized copra (dried coconut kernel) is this year a bestseller in faraway China.

Business Standard

Insurance companies have collected premiums totalling around ~22,345 crore and paid out claims worth just ~5,876 crore to farmers so far for the last kharif and rabi agricultural seasons under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). Insurance claim payouts are always low in normal years. Unlike in 2014 and 2015, India had a “normal” monsoon last year, with most parts of the country receiving above-average rainfall. Crop damage claims were bound to, then, be generally lower. That said, the PMFBY is not without flaws. To start with, the premium subsidy under the scheme is to be equally shared between the Centre and the states.

The Times of India

TOI has learnt that this is being worked out after Centre failed to procure enough pulses at MSP post the bumper harvest, which has resulted in distress sale by farmers. Secondly, the Centre is also struggling to dispose off the old stock of about 1.8 million tonnes of pulses since states are not picking them up from the central pool. According to sources, the central outgo for compensating the states for their loss is estimated about Rs 1,800-Rs 2,000 crore. The proposal, which was presented to a committee of secretaries headed by Cabinet secretary, was recently discussed with state food secretaries.

Web India 123

In the case of GM mustard sought to be introduced in India, evidence points to the fact that even the limited number of tests that were done on Bt brinjal (it was because of these tests and the results being made public that Bt brinjal was found to be unsafe and put under a moratorium) were not taken up for GM mustard safety assessment”, they informed. ”There were no chronic and inter-generational health impact studies done, and the longest test was for sub-chronic toxicity, for 90 days