International pop star Rihanna on Tuesday extended her support to the ongoing farmers agitation while criticising the Internet shutdown at the protest site.
Generally, it has been seen that commodity prices are driven higher by surging demand throughout the world. But the irony is that the latest surge comes amid concerns about a weaker global economy. At present, commodities prices are rising because the U.S. interest rates are falling below the rate of inflation.
National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation, the central government's procurement agency for non-cereal crops, is in talks with leading retail companies to serve as a back-end supply chain in agri-commodities.
In televised remarks after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the budget, Modi said it has many provisions for the agriculture sector, including for making loans easier for farmers.
With Pawar backing farmers' protest against the contentious agri reforms, government sources on Sunday pointed out that as the agriculture minister in the UPA dispensation he had asked chief ministers to amend the APMC Act in their states to allow the private sector to play an important role in the field.
The government has also revised the minimum wages for unskilled non-farm workers upwards by 42 per cent to Rs 350 per day
The production of major agricultural crops is likely to drop by 12 per cent for 2002-03, reflecting an adverse impact of poor monsoon, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy.\n\n\n\n
With almost all opposition parties too backing the 'Bharat bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure peace is maintained.
The two, one a celebrity singer-actor from Punjab and the other a Bollywood star known for her combative comments, began bickering on the social media platform on Wednesday evening and continued till well into Thursday.
Several trains were cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and many thousands stranded for hours on Monday as a nationwide 10-hour shutdown against the Centre's three agri laws disrupted lives across parts of India, particularly in the north.
The protest by farmers at the Delhi border points entered the sixth day and is set to continue as the critical talks between three Union ministers and farmer groups ended in a stalemate on Tuesday after they rejected the government's suggestion of a new committee to look into issues raised by agitating farmers.
Did you know that India is among the top five countries in food processing?
Rejecting the Centre's offer to hold talks once they move to the Burari ground, the farmers protesting against the new agricultural reform laws have been staying put at Tikri, Singhu and Ghazipur borders.
We are ready to talk but will not accept any condition now," said a farmer's leader.
Calling the young CEOs as his team, Modi said India's development must be made a mass movement and entrepreneurs should think of what more they can do for the country's growth and for the poor.
Nashik district, an Agri Export Zone (AEZ) for onion, grapes, keshar mango, pomegranates and flowers, is fast becoming the source of agri goods for retail companies such as Subhiksha and Reliance Retail.
As far as possible, investment in the agriculture sector must be from the government, and not the private sector, states Santushti Raj Thapar.
According to Nielsen, rural growth has plunged to a low 5 per cent in the third quarter of quarter from a high 20 per cent a year ago. This has for the first time in seven years rural growth has fallen below urban levels.
Addressing a press conference at Singhu Border in New Delhi, farmer leader Balbeer Singh Rajewal said that farmers never demanded the Supreme Court form a committee to resolve the impasse, alleging the central government was behind this development.
'The protesters took out a march carrying black flags. They burnt Prime Minister Narendra Modi's effigy while raising slogans against the three farm laws'
The Congress took out marches and observed bandh at several places on Saturday to protest against rising fuel prices.
Experts drawn from different parts of the country and abroad were of the view that the current boost to the agri-business through entry of large business houses would eventually benefit the farmer in a big way.
'It is undemocratic and shows fascist tendencies.'
India exported $102 million worth of dehydrated onions in 2018-19.
'The government till now said that we did not want a meeting, now that we have specifically told them when, where and what of the meeting, there is no response from them'
The roll out of Reliance Retail's fresh food format stores has hit a wall in West Bengal, where a key constituent of the state government is against big businesses entering agriculture and allied fields.
The Russian currency depreciated by 24 per cent in the past month to trade at 56.54 to the dollar at present, a sharp recovery after hitting a low of 68 in early December.
For over three months, the three Delhi border points at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur have transformed into townships occupied by thousands of farmers from different parts of the country, mainly Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh.
The agriculture ministry, in the last few weeks, issued guidelines and letters to states to ensure agriculture and food products reach consumers in a timely manner, while farmers don't have to come to the mandis to sell them.
The government has been gearing up to place tighter restrictions on the import of 371 items - ranging from toys and plastic goods to sports items, and furniture worth $127 billion.
Most of the changes have come about in the last four years and ITC is now reaping the dividends - standalone revenues from the non-cigarettes FMCG business have grown 40 per cent from FY17 to Rs 14,728.21 crore in FY21 and pre-tax profits 30 times to Rs 823.69 crore. The business accounted for 30.58 per cent of gross revenues and 4.85 per cent of pre-tax profits in FY21. "In the last four years, our margins in FMCG have gone up by 640 basis points (bps) and EBITDA margins have been moving up consistently. "We created levers that enabled a sustained growth trajectory," said ITC chairman and managing director Sanjiv Puri. Puri took charge as the chief executive officer in 2017; in 2018, he was redesignated managing director and effective May 2019, he became chairman.
Twenty days on, life has settled into a routine for protesting farmers who are devising ways to crack the code of living through an agitation with no immediate end in sight.
For these women, who describe themselves as homemakers, farmworkers and protesters all rolled into one, any suggestion that farmers are about being alpha males because it requires physical labour is met with scorn.
Sectors, which, recorded healthy export growth included electronics, engineering, chemicals, pharma and tea.
Farmers gathered at several national highways, key roads and some railway tracks in Punjab and Haryana on Friday morning as part of their nationwide protest against the Centre's new agri laws.
'This four-member committee cannot supersede the four-five member ministerial committees, 25 top-level government bureaucrats, with whom we have had nine rounds of discussions each of which lasted for more than six-seven hours.'
With this contract, Adani Green now has a portfolio of 15 GW of renewable power generating assets.
Thousands of farmers have reached the national capital on their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles, responding to the 'Delhi Chalo' call against the agri-marketing laws enacted at the Centre in September. On Saturday morning, it wasn't clear if they will agree to move to the Burari ground on the outskirts of the city, where police said they can continue with their protest. Many protesters were demanding a better venue in the centre of Delhi. Originally, the protest was meant to be on November 26 and 27.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
