Category Agriculture, Food, Nutrition Security and Rural Development

anjali

Punjab Department wise Schemes Update 2026

Punjab, with a geographical area of 50,362 sq km and a population of 2.77 crore as per Census 2011, is the sixteenth most populous state in India and one of its smallest by area, contributing about 1.5 percent of the national land mass while supporting roughly 2.3 percent of its population. The state has 23 districts and a population density of 551 persons per sq km, among the highest in the country. Punjab shares an international border with Pakistan and internal borders with Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan, and its capital, Chandigarh, is a shared Union Territory with Haryana. The economy remains predominantly agrarian, anchored in the paddy wheat cropping cycle that powered the Green Revolution, but this legacy has produced acute groundwater stress. The state's own 2025-26 assessment placed groundwater extraction at 152.22 percent of the annually extractable resource, and in a statement to the Rajya Sabha on 9 March 2026, Member of Parliament Satnam Singh Sandhu said that 19 of the state's 23 districts fall under the groundwater dark zone; the department-wise section below sets out the underlying block-level CGWB data in more detail.

image 28

Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations (2021): Powering India’s Next Phase of the White Revolution

India’s dairy sector is an important source of rural employment, household income and nutritional security. The country produced 247.87 million tonnes of milk in 2024-25, an increase of 3.58% over the previous year, retaining its position as the world’s largest milk producer (DAHD, 2025). However, the sector is characterised by a large number of small and marginal producers who depend on regular milk sales for cash income. For these farmers, disruptions in procurement, weak market demand, delayed payments and inadequate working capital can have an immediate impact on their livelihoods.

WhatsApp Image 2026 09 12 at 11.34.52 PM

Banking BHASHINI: Assessing Algorithmic Inclusion in Rural Credit Underwriting Markets

India's financial inclusion landscape is undergoing a structural paradigm shift, transitioning from expanding basic brick-and-mortar banking access to deploying an intelligent, real-time digital public ecosystem. Traditionally, financial inclusion has been defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services, with timely, adequate, and affordable credit, primarily for vulnerable populations and low-income groups. However, actualizing this definition in rural credit markets has historically been hindered by two structural barriers: a lack of verifiable credit histories among thin-file borrowers and the linguistic exclusion of regional-language-speaking communities.

WhatsApp Image 2026 09 11 at 1.18.01 PM

Coconut Promotion Scheme 2026: Strengthening India’s Coconut Sector through Productivity

Coconut occupies a distinctive position in India’s agricultural economy. Often associated with coastal livelihoods, the crop supports farmers, processors, traders and a wide range of downstream industries. Its economic significance extends beyond the sale of fresh coconuts to products such as coconut oil, coconut water, milk, virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut, activated carbon and coir-based products.

Ayan

National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA): Assessing Climate-Resilient Farming and Sustainable Agricultural Practices in India (2014–2026)

Over the past decade and more, the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has evolved from a standalone climate-adaptation-focused mission into part of India's agricultural policy framework. NMSA was launched as one of the eight missions of the National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC) with the objective of making Indian agriculture more productive, remunerative and resilient to climate variability, especially in the face of the huge rainfed agriculture base in India. The article describes the institutional journey of NMSA from 2014–2026 and evaluates their key initiatives: Rainfed Area Development, Per Drop More Crop, Soil Health Management and the National Innovations on Climate Resilient Agriculture programme; along with measured outcomes of the mission, and the structural constraints that remain, most prominently, lack of funding at the last mile and underfunding.

Talk to Us