New Indian Express

Farming is much like gambling; there is no guarantee what the rolling die would yield. Farmers have watched helplessly the flood water gobble up the fruits of their toil, drought ravage their farms, and pests lay waste to their crops. Yet, every year they till their land and sow the seeds hoping that the odds would favour them. And sometimes, they win.

Krishi Jagran

Agriculture sector, which is the largest and the most diverse sector in India, has a significant position in the Indian economy providing livelihoods to millions of its citizens. Despite India being the top producer of several food grains such as rice, wheat, pulses, cotton and sugarcane, the agricultural output has been fairly volatile due to low yields. Many factors are at play here – but such variance in growth can be primarily attributed to agriculture’s susceptibility to natural disasters such as droughts, floods, cyclones, storms, landslides and earthquakes.

The farmer’s problems are further compounded by the unexpected outbreak of epidemics and human interference in the form of fire, fake seeds, adulterated or sub-standard pesticides and market price ...

The Hindu Business Line

When the country went into a total lockdown recently following the outbreak of Covid-19, it wrought severe disruption in the economy — and in people’s lives. Millions lost their livelihoods practically overnight, and with it the capacity to feed their families. But what served as a societal shock absorber of sorts was the huge foodgrain stocks held by the state-run Food Corporation of India.

An estimated 81 crore beneficiaries are being provided 5 kg of rice/wheat per person free over and above their monthly entitlement under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

Small News

While Covid-19 pandemic continued to adversely impact the auto industry in July, the tractor segment has emerged as an exceptionIt is the only auto segment to have registered positive YoY growth in July 2020. All other segments like two-wheelers, cars, commercial vehicles and three-wheelers have registered negative growth. A total of 76,197 tractors were sold in July 2020, which is YoY gain of 37.24%. Sales during the corresponding period last year stood at 55,522 units.

Forbes India

Rewind back a quarter and there was little or no talk of rural India powering India’s growth story. In fact, its economy faced considerable headwinds. Prices for agricultural crops had increased only modestly since 2014 and as real estate prices fell, the wealth effect was noticeably missing. Construction employment had dried up and manufacturing jobs found it hard to fill the gap. The net effect was depressed wages.

The Statesman

Former Union agriculture secretary SIRAJ HUSSAINwas one of the key officers who prepared the agriculture sector roadmap and drew up most of the agriculture schemes announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his first term. Hussain also headed the Food Corporation of India, a statutory body under the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, which is engaged in the procurement and distribution of the Rabi and Kharif crops in India.

Prior to assuming the Union agriculture secretary’s post, he was secretary in the food processing ministry. The 1979 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer had earlier served in UP in various capacities including as chief of UPSIDC (Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation), ...

Tribune India

The group of experts led by eminent economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia has suggested radical policy changes in agriculture, industry, skill development and digitisation to propel growth in Punjab.

The first report, submitted to the Punjab Government last week, was discussed by Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh with the experts through video-conferencing. He reiterated that free power to farmers would stay. He agreed with the recommendation that diversification in agriculture was the way forward. The final report is to be submitted by December 31.