Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Kharif rice procurement target set at 495 lakh tonnesedit
As India is heading for a record rice acreage during the current kharif season, the government has set a higher rice procurement target of 495.37 lakh tonnes (lt) for the 2020-21 kharif marketing season (KMS), an official statement said here on Monday.
The decision to increase rice procurement target by 19 per cent from the previous marketing season’s 416 lt was taken at a meeting of State food secretaries convened by Secretary, Department of Food & Public Distribution (DFPD), through video conferencing.
Hyderabad: Farmers protest against 3 agriculture bills tabled in Lok Sabhaedit
Several farmer unions in Hyderabad held agitations at several places on Monday against three farm ordinances promulgated by the Centre.
The farmers are demanding a rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020. The Centre has tabled these ordinances as bills for debate and passage during the current Monsoon session.
Cheap Chinese Machines For Madhya Pradesh Farmers In Big Scam: Sourcesedit
Substandard Chinese power tiller were given to farmers in Madhya Pradesh under the centre’s farm mechanisation scheme in Madhya Pradesh, according to a report by four-member committee headed by MP Agro managing director Shrikant Banoth. The substandard power tillers were given to farmers between 2017 and 2019 in 11 tribal-dominated districts, sources have said. They also alleged a massive scam in plantation along the banks of the Narmada.
Power tillers are mini-tractors that can till, plough, sow seeds, plant seedlings, spray fertiliser and harvest crops, among other tasks. They were given to farmers under the Krishi Yantrikaran Yojna or farm mechanisation scheme of the centre.
Farmer protests against agri ordinances politically motivated: Shanta Kumaredit
Former Union minister and BJP leader Shanta Kumar on Monday termed the protests by farmers in Punjab and Haryana against the Centre’s three agriculture ordinances as politically motivated.
The veteran leader said the recommendation made by the high-level committee on Food Corporation of India (FCI) restructuring, which he chaired, had made recommendations to bring radical changes in the system that would have revolutionised the farm sector.
“I can say with guarantee that in India there is highest-level of corruption in the FCI,” he said.
Agricultural Revolution?edit
The fall of 23.9 per cent in our first quarter GDP has confirmed the worst fears of naysayers while optimists who believed in a V-shaped recovery and were seeing green shoots all around have gone silent. To be fair, we had our hands full, what with the coronavirus pandemic showing no signs of receding and China no intention of backing down. But, clearly, the time has come for the Government to pull out all stops to arrest the downward slide of the economy.
Farmers in Punjab, UP and Telangana protest against Centre’s farm sector ordinancesedit
Farmers in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana on Monday staged protests against the Centre’s agriculture-related ordinances and demanded that they be withdrawn immediately.
They opposed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, and an amendment in the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, which have been tabled as bills for discussion during the Parliament’s Monsoon Session. The ordinances seek to include private players in agriculture and promote hurdle-free sale of produce, but the farmers argue that they will bring about corporate dominance.
Farm Bills: Marginal Farmers will be Further Alienated, Says Yogendra Yadavedit
The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) held a countrywide protest on Monday to press the Centre to scrap three bills pertaining to contract farming, marketing and the stocking of agriculture produce. The demonstrations coincided with the first day of the monsoon session of Parliament, where the bills were introduced by the government.
The three bills – The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 – will replace ordinances which came into