The Times of India

The earlier NAIS was based on the trust model where government collected a token premium from farmers but bore liability for payment of claims beyond premium collected. PMFBY is an actuarial model based scheme where token premium is charged and government pays the balance premium quoted by insurance companies selected by states through transparent bidding — full liability of payment of claims is with companies.

Business Standard

Authorities in Punjab are targeting a 90 percent reduction in stubble burning cases next year, a senior official said here on Monday.”Stubble burning has reduced by as much as 50 per cent this year in 14 of 22 districts in Punjab, mainly in Majha and Doaba (north and central Punjab),” K.S. Pannu, Secretary- Agriculture, Punjab, said here.

Mint

Later this week, the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Monetary Policy Committee will meet to provide its assessment of inflation in India and, accordingly, set the repo rate.

The Wire

Fifty-two-year-old Kiran Shantappa Ghorwade died after falling from the third floor of Ambedkar Bhawan in Jhandewalan on Saturday, Indian Express reported. Ghorwade, a resident of Kolhapur district in Maharashtra, had travelled to Delhi to take part in the farmers protest on November 29 and November 30.

Financial Express

Delinquencies in the agri loan portfolios of some banks are seeing a spike. At State Bank of India (SBI), the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio for its agri loan book shot up to 11.43% at the September-end this year from 9.93% on September 30, 2017; slippages or accretion of fresh bad loans were Rs 2,700 crore.

The Economic Times

An Australian university is planning to invest AUD 5 million as a part of a collaboration with agricultural universities across India, to leverage research and innovations that may help Indian farmers double their income by 2022, varsity officials said.

Mint

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the second quarter (Q2) has laid bare the deepening distress in its villages. Farm incomes haven’t risen even though the government has announced a hike in minimum support prices. The country’s agricultural output, measured as gross value added, grew at a sedate pace of 2.8%, far slower than the 5.3% in the June quarter. This was on top of a low base of 2.6% growth last year.

The Hindu Business Line

An innovative company based in Douala was awarded the inaugural Pierre Castel Prize this year, thanks to a technique that enables urban dwellers to grow vegetables and raise fish using only 10 percent of the water needed for conventional agriculture.