Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Monsoon boosts top rice exporter India’s prospectsedit
Strong monsoon rains have buoyed top rice exporter India’s prospects amid competitive prices and expectations of a record summer crop, a top trade official told indoasianommodities.com.
Exports of premium basmati rice have notched an 11% growth between April and June. Though data is not yet available for July and August, indications are that the trend has been maintained, according to Vinod Kaul, executive director at All India Rice Exporters Association.
Indian rice exports have strongly recovered since December last year due to highly competitive prices compared to other origins, according to the US Department of Agriculture, adding that there has been a steady stream of export demand.
Odisha announces special package for flood-hit farmersedit
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Friday announced a special package of Rs. 300 crore for livelihood support for the farmers affected by recent floods.
Incessant rainfall and consequent flood during last week of August in different districts of Odisha had caused damage to the standing crops.
Package for livelihood support
Agriculture Sector: Agriculture input subsidy will be provided to the small and marginal farmers who have sustained crop loss of 33% and above at the rate of Rs. 6,800 per hectare of land in rain-fed/non irrigated areas; Rs. 13,500 per hectare of land in areas under assured irrigation, and Rs. 18,000 per hectare for all types of perennial crops.
Positive elements seen during contractionedit
Each day now begins with the count of lives lost due to the pandemic and the freshly affected in the last 24 hours. Equally disastrous is the contraction in the economy that has happened due to the spread of the virus which prompted governments to resort to prolonged lockdown.
The stringency index coined by Oxford University, measuring the relationship between the intensity of the lockdown and loss of economic activity, has put India in a comfortable position so far as fatality rate is concerned at 1.78 against 3.0 in US, 5.3 in China, 10.1 in France, 3.1 in Brazil and 4.2 in Indonesia. Conversely however, the contraction in GDP in April-June of FY21 in India is (-) ...
Charting India’s pathway to the big leaguesedit
Even before the coronavirus pandemic swept through the country, India was at a crossroads. Its sustained economic expansion, accelerated by pathbreaking reforms in 1991, slowed significantly. Convulsions around religion and citizenship roiled domestic politics under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meanwhile, the aspirations of international leadership that India has harboured since independence remain unrealised.
For all its recent shortcomings, however, India should not be counted out. At a time when China’s myriad pathologies have left many countries thirsting for an alternative exemplar, India could again become the world’s fastest-growing free market democracy. But it will need a new approach to revive its hopes of joining the league of great powers.
Three ordinances and a protest: Why Haryana and Punjab farmers are angryedit
On Thursday, farmer organisations in Haryana defied prohibitory orders imposed amid the pandemic to hold a rally at the Pipli wholesale grain market near Kurukshetra. They even blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway for a couple of hours, when the police initially did not allow them to move to the venue. Their target was three central laws promulgated through ordinances on June 5: The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020. These protests, preceded by sit-ins across Punjab, are expected to gather steam after September 14, when Parliament convenes for the Monsoon Session.
Modi govt wants to defeat the achievements of Green Revolution: Congressedit
A day after the BJP government in Haryana lathi charged protesting farmers, Congress slammed the Narendra Modi-led Central government in Delhi saying that the Modi government wants to destroy the achievements of the Green Revolution.
Issuing a statement, head of the Congress media cell, Randeep Surjewala said that the Modi government first brought an ordinance to capture the land of the poor and now they want to enslave the farmers.
Coverage
CLAAS launches a new series of straw balers in Indiaedit
In order to provide solution for crop stubble burning which causes massive pollution on the skies of north Indian states after Kharif crop harvest, CLAAS India, a 100 percent subsidiary of German agri-machinery conglomerate CLAAS KGaA, recently announced the virtual launch of its new range of straw balers, highlighting CLAAS’ contribution to the cause of crop residue management and effort taken to adapt to the new normal. During this first of a kind virtual agri-machinery launch, CLAAS introduced two of its most advanced straw balers – MARKANT 650 high-pressure square baler and globally renowned ROLLANT 520RF round baler.