OWSA Staff

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved a proposal from the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare to establish International Potato Centre (CIP)’s South Asia Regional Centre (CSARC) at Agra, Uttar Pradesh.

In a step toward scaling up rural enterprises led by Lakhpati Didis and other grassroots entrepreneurs, the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana–National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM) organized a 360-degree brainstorming session in New Delhi.

SECI will anchor demand aggregation and sign long-term offtake agreements, providing producers with market certainty over a 10-year contract period.

Justice Madan Lokur, Chairperson of the United Nations’ Internal Justice Council and former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, emphasised the need for meaningful access to justice for children—as victims, as accused, and as those in need of care and protection, in all their avatars.

Emphasising on the extensive involvement of PACS in the food storage scheme, the Union Minister of Cooperation said that it is necessary to make PACS an integral part of this scheme so that the financial viability and social effectiveness of PACS can be ensured.

Through the KCC framework, farmers benefit from revolving credit facilities for up to five years. This flexible structure allows them to draw and repay funds as per their seasonal requirements without having to reapply for loans each season.

He urged agro-based industries, NGOs, MPs, and MLAs to adopt villages and help build agri-entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Dhankhar urged farmers to see themselves as entrepreneurs with the potential to drive rural economies. He underscored the importance of participating in the input chain of agriculture (fertilizers, pesticides, machinery) and the output chain including storage, processing, and retail.