Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Farm reforms taken up after adequate preparation: PMedit
Times of India – Online
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the government had taken up farm reforms after adequate preparation while flagging off the 100th run of the Kisan Rail service from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal. Modi said this service opens a huge avenue for lakhs of small farmers of West Bengal.
Modi said this service opens a huge avenue for lakhs of small farmers of West Bengal and the local small businessman. Citing how the government had made announcements for starting Kisan Rail and Krishi Udaan for faster movement of perishable farm produce in the last budget, Modi said, “We have gone ahead with agriculture reforms only after strong preparation (pukta tayyari)…To ensure more employment in rural areas and better lives of farmers there ...
Dairy Farming
Animal genetics can ensure the target of doubling farmer’s income by 2022 – Dr. Pravin Kiniedit
The Hindu – Online
India, being the world’s leading milk-producing country, contributes at least one-fourth of the value output of the entire agriculture sector. Hence, the government views this sector as a key driver for doubling the farmer’s income by 2022. Over few years, the growth is sluggish due to challenges in this unorganised sector. Such challenges include an uneven male-female animal ratio resulting in stray cattle and lack of awareness about the standing cost of animals required for breeding purposes.
Hence, the need of the hour is to overhaul the dairy sector using advanced technologies such as animal genetic techniques. The global animal genetic market is currently projected to grow by US$ 5.8 billion by 2023 at a rate ...
Govt. Policies
Seeds of change: New farm Acts are the need of the houredit
Financial Express – Online
Every crisis provides an opportunity to move the needle on pending reforms. Perhaps, for us, Covid-19 comes as an opportunity to sequence distorted policy levers in agriculture in a more pragmatic and meaningful way. It is evident that there is no single year after Independence without a new farm intervention or a change in existing ones. Even then improving farmers’ economic conditions and social status, especially for small and marginal farmers, is largely driven by non-farm and off-farm income.
The legacy of farm interventions started with the preparation of a Model Bill based on the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Agriculture, 1928. With the enactment of the Agricultural Produce Markets Regulation (APMR) Act in ...
New farm bills will allow Indian farmers to reach out to Walmart, Amazon, says US trade bodyedit
The Print – Online
The three contentious farm laws passed by the Narendra Modi government will enable farmers to reach out directly to American multinational firms such as Amazon and Walmart, said Mukesh Aghi, president and CEO of the Washington-headquartered trade advocacy body US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF).
In an interview with ThePrint, Aghi said that while the US supports the farmers’ right to protest peacefully, the three farm laws will provide them “more choices” and allow them to become part of global supply chains.
Stubble Burning
https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/stubble-burning-maximum-cases-in-punjab-anger-over-farm-bills-among-major-reasons/79240674edit
ET EnergyWorld – Online
Punjab has recorded around 74,000 incidents of stubble burning this season, the maximum in four years, with experts saying anger over farm bills and the government not paying the Supreme Court-ordered financial incentive to farmers could be among the reasons for the spike in farm fires.
Punjab had reported 51,048 cases of stubble burning in the corresponding period last year and 46,559 such incidents in 2018. The number of farm fires was 43,149 in the state during the same period in 2017.
Stubble burning: Maximum cases in Punjab; anger over farm bills among major reasonsedit
The Hindu – Online
As farmer leaders and Central Ministers sit down for the sixth round of talks at Vigyan Bhavan on Wednesday afternoon, neither side expects any immediate breakthrough.
Little has changed in terms of negotiating positions in the three weeks since talks broke down, according to farmer leaders, despite growing pressure on the ground. Farmers rallies were held in Bihar and Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, buttressing the claim that the agitation is not restricted to Punjab groups.