The IFAD study, “Agriculture – Pathways to Prosperity in Asia and the Pacific”, provides an Asia and Pacific regional perspective, highlighting the fact that the overall rate of extreme poverty in rural areas of developing countries has dropped from 48 per cent to 34 per cent over the past decade.
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is an important milestone and mechanism, the manifestations of which help us in reviewing crucial issues regarding the impact of development interventions in Indian rural ecosystems.
The countrywide share of corporate retail in food distribution tripled in the past four years when retail food prices showed the greatest increase.
THE dramatic increase in food inflation over the past two years has been associated with several surprises. One major surprise has been how the top economic policymakers in the country have responded to it.
Introduction of sugarcane harvesters in Punjab may be the answer to the acute shortage of agricultural labour in the state. The Punjab government has decided to promote harvester use in a big way and has offered a subsidy of 25 per cent on the Rs 1-crore harvester.
Bangalore: The Central government has revised wages of agricultural labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The new wages are based on the consumer price index (CPI), as suggested by the prime minister, and are effective from January 1, 2011. Linking wages to CPI has enhanced them from 17% to 30%.
LUCKNOW: The pattern of land distribution has rendered rural landscape of UP disfavourable for farming. The precursor for this is the fragmentation of cultivable land into a large number of `small landholdings'.
