Most producers have put off plans to make capital investments in their wineries, and implemented cost-reduction measures to conserve cash.
ITC plans to teach farmers in four states the best agricultural practices.
Enforcement Directorate has issued summons to Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in connection with its probe against him and his associates for alleged money laundering.
Against the backdrop of the end of a week long standoff with the Congress, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday met Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party unit chief Madhukar Pichad and other party leaders separately to discuss the political situation.
Dismissing claims that he is remote-controlling the MVA regime, Pawar said it is fully controlled by Thackeray and the latter's team.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
In the season of scams, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and his close relatives were on Thursday dragged into a corruption scandal by a former India Police Service officer-turned-lawyer for benefiting a private developer by allegedly bestowing undue favours for the controversial Lavasa hill city project.
At all India level, per capita income will decline by 5.4 per cent in FY21 to Rs 1.43 lakh, the report said.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Monday said that his party would support any bill providing for more stringent punishment to rapists.
The government is doing things in agriculture that count for little, says Shreekant Sambrani.
Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar is ready to become the country's prime minister, provided there is a consensus, said party leader and Union Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel. Patel was quick to add that any talk on this right now is premature.
Yield loss due to natural calamity is calculated based on field reports and assessment of crop-cutting experiments by district and block agriculture officers.
'He is not looking at the interest of farmers. He only wants to do the politics of elections.' 'This Budget is for the new super India. It is exploiting the villages of Bharat.'
While the number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 6,039, as many as 515 people have been cured and discharged, and one had migrated, it said. The total number of cases include 71 foreign nationals.
The PMO also directed a careful watch on the intensity and spread of rainfall over the next week or so, especially in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Onion has become costlier by over 33 per cent in the last one week and over 70 per cent in September so far, reports Dilip Kumar Jha.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has come out in strong defence of Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari. In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN's Editor-in-Chief Rajdeep Sardesai he says Gadkari was working for development of farmers and there was no evidence of personal corruption against him, as alleged by Team Kejriwal.
The panel members were scheduled to have a virtual interaction earlier in the day to discuss its future course of action, but it could not take place after ex-MP and farmer leader Bhupinder Singh Mann recused himself from the committee.
Technology and prudent practices can ensure that crop output does not suffer in years of drought.
The budget presented by the Maharashtra Finance Minister Jayant Patil on Wednesday evoked mixed response with the Congress describing it as a progressive and development oriented while the opposition terming it as a budget devoid of any merit. Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh described the budget as a progressive one which would greatly help common man and farmers as it has given special emphasis on agriculture -- irrigation, water conservation and housing.
Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said told reporters after the meeting that the unions urged the government to repeal the three laws, but the Centre was unwilling to do so. "We decided to meet again on January 19 at 12 pm," he said.
'This government is so fond of some corporate friends that they can always amend existing laws or make new laws.'
Agriculturally important UP, MP, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Punjab received 20-30% shortfall in rain
The minister said production of fodder has dipped due to severe drought conditions in various parts of the country affecting the livestocks population.
The Nafed has outstanding dues of Rs 224.26 crore (Rs 2.24 billion) as of February 15.
Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana and Punjab have sought Central assistance for drought mitigation across various sectors including feed and fodder, Minister of State for Agriculture Charan Das Mahant said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has urged Union agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar to resign from the Union cabinet and come to Maharashtra to protect the interest of farmers reeling under drought.
A senior source in the Maharashtra government reveals that the unfolding investigation in the Adarsh society scam is the main reason for the recent face-off between Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
A senior source in the Maharashtra government reveals that the unfolding investigation in the Adarsh society scam is the main reason for the recent face-off between Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
As of now, monsoon rains are deficient by 21 per cent across India, affecting sowing of kharif crops. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab and West Rajasthan have been the worst-hit regions this year.
Foodgrain production stood at an all-time high of 257.44 million tonnes in 2011-12 crop year (July-June) on the back of record output of wheat and rice.
'Onion supply to mandis has declined due to its lower availability.'
Lashing out at the BCCI for converting Indian public to "zombies of cricket" by foisting tournaments like IPL "tamasha", former Sports Minister MS Gill asked the Board to have some sanity in its thinking and shift the matches of the lucrative T20 competition out of drought-hit Maharashtra. Gill, who served as the Union Sports Minister from April 2008 to May 2009 and currently a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, was reacting after Bombay High Court raised questions on why water should be "wasted" on hosting IPL matches in Maharashtra when the state is facing one of its worst-ever droughts. In total, 20 IPL matches are scheduled to be held in Maharashtra in three venues -- Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. "The drought condition in Maharashtra is so severe that in a few days people in areas like Marathawada will not even have a glass of water to drink. As a former Sports Minister and ex-Agriculture Secretary, I know that several parts of Maharashtra are bone dry and I am amazed that in this situation the BCCI wants to hold these IPL matches," Gill told PTI.
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Saturday refuted the allegation that the Nationalist Congress Party ditched the Congress in recent elections to the posts of Zilla Parishad chairman and vice-chairman in the state, saying it was the Congress which had failed to honour the `dharma' of coalition.
Nationalist Congress Party leader and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on Friday said rebuilding of the seven-storey Maharashtra government secretariat building, the top floor of which was gutted in a fire, should be done by the government and not by using the build-operate-transfer route.
The Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar on met Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and his Cabinet colleagues and took stock of the situation in the wake of the devastating fire at the state secretariat.
The state plans for 4 per cent growth in agriculture and 11 per cent each in industry and services sector.
Monsoon, the lifline of Indian agriculture, has revived in last one month but Karnataka, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan continue to face deficit rain.
Pawar said the Union Cabinet has already decided last week to reschedule crop loans of farmers in the affected drought areas with reduced interest rate of 7 per cent.
Nationalist Congress Party chief and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's courtesy call to Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Thursdayevening fuelled intense speculation even as both the parties insisted that it had nothing to do with politics.
