Free Press Journal

‘Why agriculture matters for India’ is the first session of ‘Future of Agriculture’ series which has been organised by SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce and Free Press Journal (FPJ) in association with NSE, NCDEX Investor (Client) Protection Fund Trust, and East West Seed.

The panellists in this session included (in alphabetical order) Dilip Rajan, MD, East West Seed India; Arun Raste, Executive Director, NDDB; and Simon Thorsten Wiebusch, COO, Bayer Crop Science. The session was moderated by RN Bhaskar, Consulting Editor, FPJ and the opening remark was delivered by Uma Maheshwari Shankar, Principal of SIES College of Arts, Science and Commerce.

Assam Tribune

The share of the agriculture and allied sector in GSDP (gross state domestic product) and its annual growth rate have declined considerably during the last 10 years. In 2011-12, the sector contributed 19.89 per cent to GSDP at constant (2011-12) prices. The share has declined to 15.16 per cent in 2019-20 as per advanced estimate. The period has also seen the rate of growth of the sector plummet drastically from 16 per cent in 2012-13 to 2.90 per cent in 2019-20 at constant prices (as per new series).

Revealing this in its report, the Advisory Committee for Revitalization of the State’s Economy in the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic situation cited lack of growth and lack of ...

The Statesman

Covid-19 might have hit all the economic sectors badly, but luck is favouring Indian agriculture sector this year as there has been 95 per cent equal distribution of rainfall all over the country. Along with historic sowing, and timely rains agricultural experts are predicting bumper crop this year.

“I, in my lifetime, have never seen so many factoring favouring agriculture,” said former director general of Indian Council for Agriculture Mangla Rai. “I do not remember ever before monsoon was so proportionately distributed, well precipitated and timely. Rains poured when it needed the most except some areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir region. But these areas are negligible. Lastly, this year sowing areas broke all records~ ...

Business Standard

With headline inflation breaching the Reserve Bank of India’s upper range, analysts are generally agreed that the central bank’s room for manoeuvre in cutting the policy rate is limited. Assessing the four-year term of the three external members of the monetary policy committee (MPC), the second edit explains here why the central bank may not cut rates in the near term. And, as Ajay Shah points out in his column, “monetary policy is pursuing the right objective but is currently ineffectual”.

Punjab Update

With the holistic aim to ensure cleaner environment especially considering COVID-19 pandemic and reduce air pollution stemming from burning of paddy straw which adversely affects the fertility of soil, the Punjab Government has already made it mandatory under the Air (Prevention & Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 for the Combine harvesters to have Super Straw Management system attached with the harvesters.

Disclosing this, the Secretary Agriculture and Nodal Officer for control of residue burning campaign Kahan Singh Pannu said that some combine owners out of total 13,000 in the State, try not to install the super SMS system just to save the time and cost of operation.

The Hindu

As many as 14 beneficiaries have been selected for agri business orientation / incubation at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) here under the Central Government’s Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana – Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sectors Rejuvenation scheme.

According to S.D. Sivakumar, Director (Agri Business Development), the scheme has two components: Agripreneurship Orientation Programme (AOP) and Startup Agribusiness Incubation Programme (SAIP). It aims at strengthening infrastructure in agriculture and allied sectors to promote agripreneurship and agribusiness . The TNAU, which has a technology business incubator, was identified for the scheme last financial year.

The Wire

In April this year, the Punjab government constituted an expert panel on the economy to aid medium and long-term revival strategy for the state post the COVID-19 induced lockdown. The other state which has set-up a similar expert panel is Rajasthan.

The Punjab panel, headed by the former deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, submitted its first report on July 31.