Harish Damodaran
Articles By Harish Damodaran
GM crops: Farmers clear, politics muddled
The opposition to GM crops is clearly not from farmers. Were that so, the global annual area planted under them wouldn’t have risen from a mere 1.7 million to nearly 190 million hectares between 1996 and 2017.
A new mandi tax
A 2 per cent TDS on cash withdrawals beyond Rs 1 crore may hit the farm trade hard.
‘No over-dues’ with banks, says Bajaj Hindusthan
Clearing cane growers’ dues will take time, says firm. As on June 30, cane over-dues payable to farmers, stood at over Rs 3,180 crore.
Self-sufficiency in Edible oils: A Tall Order
Reducing import dependence in vegetable fats is going to be far more tougher than in pulses.
Unsweet tidings
The impending bankruptcy of India’s biggest sugar producer may create new legal precedent after the Jaypee homebuyers’ case
Dry June hits kharif, sowing area 25% less than normal
According to the Agriculture Ministry’s latest sowing data released Friday, the total area planted under all crops during this kharif season has been only 146.61 lakh hectares (lh), as against last year’s 162.07 lh.
Death of enterprise
The Indian economy’s crisis is not of GDP growth, but a drying up of animal spirits
Crop Insurance: Time to reboot PM’s flagship scheme; let it be weather-based
The PMFBY’s operational guidelines require state governments to carry out at least four CCEs in every village panchayat for every notified crop and submit the yield data to insurance companies within a month from the date of harvest.
The retail paradox: Wholesale food inflation is up, but consumers aren’t feeling the pinch yet
According to official data, annual inflation in the wholesale price index (WPI) for food articles has gone up from minus 0.21% to 6.98% between September 2018 and May 2019.
Govt has drought cover: A record stock of pulses
This will help prevent a repeat of prices going through the roof as seen before in 2015, ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections.
Elephant in the room: Food inflation shadow over June 6 RBI rate meeting
Between December 2018 and April 2019, annual wholesale food price inflation rose from –0.42% to 7.37%
Explained: Why having one Minister for Rural Development & Agriculture is key step forward
During 2014-15 to 2018-19, about 1.55 crore houses and 2.18 lakh km of all-weather roads were built in rural India under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, respectively.
Eye on polls, Uttar Pradesh makes mills in east crush cane though season long gone
While Uttar Pradesh’s sugar belt has post-Independence shifted to the western and central districts, sugar cane still retains political relevance in the four northeastern constituencies that vote in the last phase of polls on May 19.
UP holds huge potential in agriculture — it needs right leadership to forge forward-looking path
UP is truly at the crossroads: The state is uniquely poised to leverage opportunities from agriculture and build on the base laid by entrepreneurs, whether in sugar, potatoes, buffalo meat, leather or mentha oil. But, it is equally in danger of being taken back by decades, courtesy leaders with exclusivist and narrow-minded visions.
First challenge for next govt: Food inflation set to return
The past couple of months have seen prices of a host of farm commodities surge, mainly on the back of drought in large parts of western and southern India, coupled with an early and harsher-than-usual summer.
In UP leather belt that votes today, closed tanneries cast shadow
4 lakh jobs, Rs 4,000-cr per month at stake; Kanpur, Unnao count losses.
Agra: Not a dearth of cold storage, the real cause of farm distress
UP — Agra — now has an estimated 280 cold stores for potatoes. Given an average capacity of 10,000 tonnes, these sheet bhandar, as they are called, can handle roughly 28 lakh tonnes (lt) of produce.
In Agra shoe bazaar, lingering pinch of GST, note ban
"They successfully portrayed us as tax evaders and were themselves well-prepared to handle the new system. The Narendra Modi government has forced the cyclewallah, who cannot afford to employ chartered accountants, to compete with the carwallah," says Sharvan Singh.
Potato, three years of losses to count in 4 out of 8 seats voting next in Uttar Pradesh
Potato is a major crop in Agra, grown in 57,879 hectares of the district (2017-18 data) that includes both Agra and Fatehpur Sikri. The tuber is also extensively cultivated in Hathras (46,333 hectares) and Aligarh (23,332).
Farm mechanisation: When the field is level
Custom hiring has made it possible for small landholders to avail benefits of precision agriculture.
