New Delhi: The embattled government faces the daunting task of appeasing voters weary of high inflation while trying to tame its fiscal deficit when it presents its budget for the next fiscal year on Monday. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government is under pressure over high prices and its handling of a string of corruption scandals as his Congress party faces elections in five states this year, making it unlikely that...
08:45 AM, Feb 28, 2011
New Delhi: Observing that Indian agriculture is at a "crossroads", the Economic Survey on Friday called for a Second Green Revolution with newer technological breakthroughs and higher investment in the sector, even while projecting 5.4 per cent farm growth this year. "... The agriculture sector in India is at a crossroads, with rising demand for food items and relatively slower supply response in many commodities resulting in frequent spikes in...
02:30 PM, Feb 25, 2011
Sagarika Ghose discusses with a panel of experts, 'How India will tackle the problem of agriculture'. ...
12:04 AM, Feb 24, 2011
New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, citing high global prices, called for wheat, rice and sugar exports to resume on Wednesday to take advantage of high global prices for the commodities. Pawar's call for exports came as at least 100,000 trade unionists marched through the Indian capital on Wednesday in a protest against high food prices and unemployment. India, the world's 2nd-largest producer of wheat and rice, has kept a...
09:54 PM, Feb 23, 2011
Mumbai: It is the triumph of people power. The Mukesh Ambani-led Raigadh Special Economic Zone project, touted as the country's biggest SEZ has now been scrapped by the Maharashtra government. Protesting farmers in the area will now get their land back. Floated by Ambani in partnership with Anand Jain, the Raigadh Maha-Mumbai SEZ needed over 20,000 acres. But villagers who owned all this land put up massive resistance. And when...
09:17 AM, Feb 20, 2011
London: Scientists have developed a new rice variety which they say tastes like white rice but has all the health benefits of the brown. Researchers who refined the milling process to create the special rice said the new variety is good for the heart, helping keep a lid on blood pressure and protecting the arteries from narrowing. And those who find brown rice tough and chewy will be glad to...
07:59 PM, Feb 18, 2011
Ahead of Budget 2011, Nisha Agrawal, CEO of Oxfam India, suggests ways to tackle inflation. ...
10:26 AM, Feb 18, 2011
New Delhi: With a sharp fall in onion prices in the retail market to Rs 30 per kg, the government on Monday decided to end the subsidised sale of the kitchen staple from Tuesday in the national capital, but it would continue to monitor the situation to prevent the recurrence of the crisis. A high-level meeting, which was convened by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, also decided to discontinue the 30...
08:20 PM, Jan 31, 2011
Kanpur: Vegetable parks will be set up in all Indian cities with a minimum population of one million to ensure availability of quality produce at reasonable rates, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar announced on Saturday. "We propose to shortly start the process of acquiring land for the purpose and would therefore urge all state governments to extend their cooperation," he said inaugurating a seminar at the Indian Institute of Pulses Research...
12:16 AM, Jan 30, 2011
Pune: ATMs of a different kind may soon be available for those having erratic work schedules in the IT hub of Pune in the form of 'Any Time Milk' vending machines for a whole range of milk products, to be introduced for the first time in Maharashtra. Conceived by a milk co-operative which supplies over one lakh litres of cow milk in the region, the pilot project of Pune Zilla...
11:22 AM, Jan 22, 2011
New Delhi: Some alarming revelations have surfaced from a new study. A record 2.5 lakh farmers have committed suicide in India over the last 13 years. Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar's home state Maharashtra tops the list. It has the worst record for the 10th consecutive year. According to The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, more than 2,16, 000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997. P Sainath, Rural Affairs editor...
08:06 AM, Jan 18, 2011
Islamabad: In a decision that could soften prices of the bulb in the neighbouring country, Pakistan's Ministry of Food and Agriculture has agreed to the move to continue onion exports to India. This is due to adequate production of the vegetable despite the floods that devastated agricultural lands across Pakistan last year, said an official of the ministry. However, the Commerce and Foreign Ministries here are opposed to onion exports,...
03:43 PM, Jan 10, 2011
The change in sentiment is palpable on Dalal Street. Just two months ago, stock market pundits were vying with each other to assign aggressive ‘fair value’ targets to BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty. The projected earnings of Sensex stocks in 2011-12, in the range of Rs. 1,250-1,275 were quickly discounted into the price and people started talking about profitability expectations for the following year, 2012-13. But the warning signs were...
10:45 AM, Jan 04, 2011
Nashik: While onion prices spiral, the onion farmer seems to be struggling with crop loss and even lower yields. In Nashik, the country's onion growing centre, anger and desperation loom large. Subhash Khotwal is an onion farmer in Nashik whose major part of the onion yield turned out be rotten. His four acres of onion farming resulted in harvest of tears. While two spells of unseasonal rains have already dashed...
11:42 PM, Dec 21, 2010
New Delhi: At the epicentre of the onion trade in Nashik, prices came down at the same speed at which it went up on Monday. But the Agriculture Minister and National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Fedration (NAFED) seemed confused. NAFED Managaing Director, Sanjeev Chopra said, "We are unable to understand why this happened because the arrivals both in Delhi and Nashik markets were quite alright. But for common man, it will...
10:11 PM, Dec 21, 2010
Pune: Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, who until recently drew flak for hike in prices of essential commodities, on Friday said he had proposed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to relieve him of the food portfolio which was vetoed by him. "I had told the Prime Minister to relieve me of sugar and food department but he did not agree. Singh told me that I have to look after this if...
07:29 PM, Dec 17, 2010
New Delhi: The monsoons in India herald good news as well as bad. India's Agriculture Secretary has said that with excessive rain, while there are reports of floods, there's also an expectation of bumper crop production. Water levels have gone beyond the 10-year average and increased soil moisture. India, the world's second-largest rice grower, may reap a bumper harvest of 100 million metric tons in 2010-11. It is also likely...
07:43 AM, Sep 09, 2010
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has come down heavily on Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and criticised his statements that rotting food grain cannot be distributed to the poor free of cost. "Free of cost distribution of food grain was a part of the order. Tell your Minister that distribution of rotting food grains was a part of our order and not just an observation," the court told Additional Solicitor...
01:10 PM, Aug 31, 2010
Facing high food prices after failed monsoon in 2009, India is counting heavily on normal June-September rainfall. ...
11:47 PM, May 27, 2010
Sharad Joshi is a prominent farmers' leader from Maharashtra. ...
10:37 PM, Mar 09, 2010
