Harish Damodaran

Government and RBI should pay little attention to the demand of bond vigilantes to hike rates

The GEAC has decided to write to the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) “to obtain relevant information and data on the post commercial release effects of Bt Brinjal in Bangladesh from Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI)”.

How top-down decision-making, delusions of grandeur led a strong government to poor decisions

Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in memory of Alfred Nobel: The two men awarded have been obsessed with economic growth and human welfare outcomes over decades, or even centuries.

For the upcoming 2018-19 rabi planting season, the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) in the Agriculture Ministry has computed the all-India average A2+FL production costs for six crops: wheat, barley, chana (chickpea), masur (lentil), rapeseed-mustard and safflower.

The latest MSP hike takes the total increase during the current NDA government’s tenure from 2014-15 to 2018-19 to Rs 440 per quintal for wheat and Rs 425-440 per quintal for paddy.

For the Modi government and farmers, it’s not MSPs for rabi, but below-MSP rates for kharif crops now being marketed, that should really worry.

With raising working capital from banks going to pose a huge challenge, it leaves the only one possibility — of farmers offering their cane on credit and millers paying them as and when the sugar processed from it gets sold.

The Centre has no time to lose to address an unprecedented sugar glut ahead of the next crushing season — in an election year.

The Rs 5,535-crore amount would include Rs 1,010 crore to be disbursed to 24 cooperative factories and Rs 25 crore to the sole state corporation-owned mill.

It is not only diesel but also fertilisers and pesticides that have become almost 25 per cent costlier for farmers in the last one year.

The fact of farm prices rising at a slower pace than general inflation probably explains the spurt in agrarian unrest, particularly visible since April-June 2017.

Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee stewarded projects that defied the constraints of their times, and have become markers of India’s modernity.

According to the survey, whose reference period is 2015-16, the average net monthly income of Indian rural households — after deducting expenses incurred in the course of economic activity — was Rs 8,059.

Till the advent of KCC, farmers had to apply for fresh loans ahead of every cropping season.

The last 2012 Livestock Census showed India’s total male buffalo population at 16.10 million, as against 92.60 million females.

Double whammy on top of costlier diesel neutralises MSP hike benefits

Agricultural exports from India have started picking up again, which is good news for farmers

One reason for the MSPs not having the desired impact could be the delayed announcement. Farmers usually make sowing decisions before the onset of the monsoon.