Kiran Vissa, co-convenor of National Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture, said that amendments to the EC Act have nothing to do with farmers' welfare but instead meant to please big players and agriculture companies. This is because small and marginal farmers don't have the storage capacity to attract provisions of the EC Act.
The government on Thursday said it will not allow prices of essential food items to increase due to the impact of possible deficient monsoon this year.
During his address after flagging off the train via video-conferencing, Modi said his government's policies are clear and intentions transparent in reforming the agriculture sector.
The Delhi metropolitan area has one of the highest concentrations of population in the world, and suffocating the people of the area on an annual basis should be treated as a crime against humanity, especially when the cause for such suffocation can be controlled, says Arvind Kumar.
'We are not talking pennies. The milk business is as large as the automobile industry (about Rs 4 trillion in sales),' points out T N Ninan.
After unseasonal rains, supply disruptions and pandemic-induced woes pushed retail inflation well over the Reserve Bank's comfort zone in 2020, the scenario is likely to stay that way at least in the short term as economic recovery slowly gains foothold. For most part of this year, pricier food items pushed the retail inflation, based on Consumer Price Index (CPI), higher in the range of 6.58-7.61 per cent, except for March when the reading was 5.91 per cent. Experts believe retail inflation is likely to average around 6.3 per cent this fiscal and mostly will remain sticky going forward owing to pick-up in demand across sectors.
Kavitha Kuruganti has been fighting for decades to ensure farmers are respected and get their due from the Indian nation. In order to ensure they don't struggle for a living, she works to ensure sustainable farm livelihoods and farmers' rights.
Finding itself trapped in a cul de sac, all things considered, a negotiated climbdown at this juncture seems the only sensible course available for the Centre, suggests Virendra Kapoor.
Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said the manifesto was prepared after taking opinions through multiple platforms such as social media.
'I hope the anger that Gujarat farmers have demonstrated is also reflected in other parts of the country in ensuing elections.' 'Only then will the ruling parties accept that something is terribly going wrong in the hinterland.'
Loan waivers will never be enough. Reforming the agricultural marketing system is essential to addressing the concerns of farmers in a sustainable manner, says Nitin Desai.
'If India is to emerge as a superpower, we must utilise our huge agricultural potential and not, as in past centuries, merely exploit our farmers,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Consumer Price Index hit the lowest in six months in March at 4.83 per cent.
While rising food inflation is a matter of grave concern for a significant chunk of the population and for policy makers as well, it marks a turnaround in the fortunes of the farmer, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
"This is not a farmers' agitation, this is Congress' agitation," he said.
'This confrontation could have been avoided by a less arrogant administration that initially listened, used whatever negotiating skills they had and tried to be more credible,' observes Ramesh Menon.
Lessons of Bengal's ill-advised restriction on potato trade.
Kamal Nath argued that Modi had 'overexposed himself': By constantly pushing his own image on social media and on TV, attaching his name to multiple promises, Modi had become the face rivals could easily blame for India's chronic dysfunction.
Farmers find it difficult to source quality seeds or fertiliser on time from government agencies at subsidised rates.
Indian economy is expected to expand at 8.5-9 per cent over 10-15 year time frame once the structural issues hampering growth are addressed by the government.
The two bills -- Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 -- were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday.
'Four years into his tenure and Modi still has no idea what is wrong with the agriculture sector!'
Mandsaur, the epicentre of the agitation, has remained relatively peaceful even as farmer protests have spilled over to new areas of MP.
Normal monsoon makes FMCG, automobile and consumer durable companies optimistic about growth prospects
'If the money we spend on importing pulses reach our farmers, there won't be any suicides'
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In 2008-09, the economy grew at 6.7 per cent despite poor farm sector growth of 0.4 per cent.
In a first, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday met the secretaries of all the government departments collectively and asked them to directly get in touch with him to resolve issues and expedite decision-making.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, in an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN reiterated that he is not going to contest the next Lok Sabha elections.
'What is bank recapitalisation? When the rich take loans and do not return and the government returns that money to the banks.' 'What is restructuring 5:25 scheme? The government says don't return now, just tell us you will return after five years.' 'Why don't we apply these schemes to farmers?' 'I want to increase the power of farmers to blackmail the government as everyone in the country has the power to blackmail.'
With the arrest of another Sri Lankan national for alleged spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, central security agencies have stepped up surveillance of vital installations including defence and foreign consulates in southern parts of the country.
Temperatures have soared to 50.3 degrees Celsius, but no deaths from the heat have been reported from Churu.
US hands over evidence linking Pak national in consulate terror conspiracy
'Farmers are like living corpses in India.'
The RBI expects inflation in 2015 to hover around 6 per cent -- its target for January 2016 -- and sees risks to the target evenly balanced.
Despite his ministers on shaky ground, Chouhan -- at the helm for three consecutive terms -- is holding the fort. He is being aided by a capable team for public relations and the RSS, which has deployed its workers to bolster the BJP's campaign, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Cabinet secretary calls meeting to review the impact of inflation on essential commodities.
'In the final analysis, all Budgets everywhere are like the schemes hatched by A A Milne's lovable Winnie-the-Pooh.' 'They may be well-intended, but often go awry.' 'Although Pooh and his friends agree that he 'has very little brain', he is occasionally acknowledged to have a clever idea, usually driven by common sense.' 'This Budget at a first glance does not appear to belong to that latter category,' says economist Shreekant Sambrani.
Is the Budget sufficiently prudent? It probably is but at the cost of substantial under-provisioning for the many grand sounding schemes announced in it, says Nitin Desai.
'Earlier compensation was less, but we have increased compensation four fold. As a result, farmers want to give up their land.' 'Infrastructure projects will create 50 lakh jobs. If today we are building 14 km of road per day, by next March, we hope to take it up to 30 km. My own hope is we can take it to 100 km per day.' 'The government's ambitious Sagarmala project aims to develop port infrastructure along the country's 7,500 km coastline. The project includes modernisation of our ports and islands, setting up of coastal economic zones, new major ports and fish harbours.'
Open market price cools down as chief minister orders cold storages to empty stock by December 15.
