Protests by sugarcane growers in western Maharashtra, demanding better price for their produce, intensified on Wednesday with agitators torching a police jeep in the sugar belt of Kolhapur, setting up road blockades and pelting stones. In Sangli district, the police retaliated by firing in the air.
'We need to encourage the next generation of farmers to continue in farming'
In the backdrop of the scarcity of sugarcane this season, the sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh are keeping the farmers in good humour by collectively making advance payment of nearly Rs 770 crore.
One of the reasons for the low yield is that the cane development officers are not visiting the fields and disseminating information on the improved sugarcane seeds available in the market.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal accused the Centre of dividing farmer organisations, but it will not happen.
The state government has formed two committees under the chief secretary and the cane commissioner on the matter.
They are marching towards Delhi as part of the Bharatiya Kisan Union's protest call over demands ranging from farm loan waiver to cut in fuel prices
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the target date for achieving 20 per cent ethanol-blending with petrol has been advanced by five years to 2025 to cut pollution and reduce import dependence.
'I want to ask Modiji is the support price announced by him good enough to make a farmer's sons to start farming in their villages?' 'Can he swear by Bharat Mata and say that is true?'
'Modi came out with this huge announcement that he has given a historic price rise to farmers.' 'It was actually a fake price. He did not give the price mentioned in the BJP's election manifesto.' 'So, Modi gave an incomplete price rise and publicised it as if he has completed his job.' ''This government has surely proved that it does not care about farmers in any way.'
'We want to make sustainability affordable.' 'We tell everyone, don't just recycle, Craste it!'
The incident that came to light on Saturday came days after a farmer was beaten up by the police in the state over non-payment of loan.
Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat account for 85 per cent of India's maize production.
Most of the extra spending in the Budget is in fact an accounting entry that shifts the cost of an interest subsidy to the agriculture Budget that was previously borne by the finance ministry
As many as 17 farmers have allegedly committed suicide in the agrarian crisis-hit Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in the last five days, a non-government organisation working for their cause claimed on Monday.
Maharashtra, the country's largest cane and sugar producer after Uttar Pradesh, had, over the past few years, weathered adverse market dynamics brought about by a domestic and global sugar glut, mounting arrears and muted exports.
Bharat Krishak Samaj demanded that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana should be replaced with a new crop insurance and compensation scheme.
'I am not saying all films should have a message. But I think it is important for cinema to send out the right signals to the audience.'
The country has exported about 5 lakh tonnes of raw sugar so far availing the benefit of the subsidy, according to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA).
On average, an account-holder among Punjab farmers availed of crop loans of around Rs 2.23 lakh in the first 11 months of 2016-17.
Governments must encourage micro-irrigation, use of natural manure and pesticides in a big way. Farm income can be doubled by reducing cost as much as by increasing MSP, says Sanjeev Nayyar.
Miffed over being denied permission to hold a rally in Varanasi, Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate continued his attack against the Election Commission and accused them of being biased.
The limited availability of flexible (flex)-fuel vehicles in the Indian market and the slow rollout of ethanol-blended petrol by oil-marketing companies (OMCs) remain major obstacles to achieving widespread use of biofuels in the transportation sector in India. Recently, two Union ministers have emphasised India's biofuel potential, arguing that it has the capacity and potential to lead a transition towards widespread biofuel adoption. Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari signalled that this transition is well underway and urged car manufacturers to quickly adapt and introduce new biofuel-run vehicles, lest the government resort to taxing diesel vehicles.
Use of 10 per cent ethanol-blended petrol has led to a saving of over Rs 41,000 crore in the foreign exchange for the country, minister of state for environment, forest and climate change Ashwini Kumar Choubey said on Wednesday. Speaking at an online event of auto industry body SIAM on sustainable mobility, the minister said the government is working in multiple ways to encourage sustainable mobility. "India recently achieved 10 per cent ethanol blending target 5 months in advance, saving over Rs 41,000 crore worth of fuel imports for the nation," Choubey noted.
The current public mood is that it will be a hung assembly. No one, not even in the BJP, is talking about even a simple majority for the party.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Thursday said the country has to decide if the sweetness of sugarcane will grow or the followers of Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah will cause mischief in the state, in a veiled attack on the Samajwadi Party (SP).
India's wheat production is projected to have declined nearly 3 per cent to 106.84 million tonnes while the overall foodgrain production is estimated to have touched record 315.72 million tonnes in the 2021-22 crop year. The wheat production is estimated to have declined due to heatwave that resulted in shrivelled grains in the northern states of Punjab and Haryana. Releasing the fourth advance estimate for the 2021-22 crop year, the Union agriculture ministry on Wednesday said a record output is also estimated for rice, maize, gram, pulses, rapeseed and mustard, oilseeds and sugarcane.
RLD sources said that the party chief was "taken aback" by the SP's delay in announcing his name as the candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
'People in politics have lost the value of being connected to their own people.' 'Now it's all about vote share, vote bank, how many parties can you break and make them join you.'
Godavari Dange, a school dropout who was widowed at the age of 19 is now changing the lives of farmers in her village and beyond.
Without naming the UPA government, he attacked it over alleged corruption and flagged his government's 'honest' credentials.
Saurbah Chaudhary would dream of excelling in the Olympic sport one day.
Kumaraswamy said he would remain the CM until he enjoyed the 'confidence' of the Congress MLAs and till the time God has written it in his fate.
Most farmers want to give Modi a second chance. They hope that the BJP loses at least 50 seats, so that it is dependent on its coalition partners who will then keep a check on Modi.
For the cooperation ministry, the government made a total budget outlay of Rs 1,150.38 crore for 2023-24, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 1,624.74 crore for 2022-23.
The company's Chief Executive Officer G S C Rao, Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Tapriya, Executive Director Gursimran Kaur Mann and five non-executive directors have also been booked by the agency. Gurpal Singh is the son-in-law of Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh.
In the third of a six-part series, Business Standard travels through diamond and textile units in Surat to assess the impact of demonetisation.
'No action will be taken against Ajit Pawar. I am sure.'
Presently director at the Indian Council of Agricultural Research's Sugarcane Breeding Centre in Coimbatore, Bakshi Ram's next target is to improve both cane yields and sucrose content in cane varieties cultivated beyond the Vindhyas in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, as also Maharashtra.
