Welcome to the weekly news bulletin by P Sundarayya Memorial Trust. News from August 29-September 4, 2026 below:

Policy News

All India Kisan Sabha alleges eviction of 25,000 forest dwellers in Tamil Nadu is illegal
DownToEarth. Farmers’ group All India Kisan Sabha has alleged that ongoing attempts to evict traditional forest dwellers from 5,072.653 hectares of land in the Meghamalai-Varusanadu area of Tamil Nadu are illegal. In a statement issued on September 2, 2026, AIKS said the eviction attempts reflected the “colonial and anti-democratic legacy” of forest governance in India. The area, located in Theni district, is part of the Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve. According to AIKS, it is home to about 25,000 people, most of them marginal peasants living across nine village panchayats. The organisation said the affected people included Adivasis, Dalits and members of Most Backward Classes, and alleged that they were being branded as “encroachers” despite long histories of habitation and cultivation in the area. AIKS said it was “of the firm opinion” that the case represented a systemic and deliberate violation of the law by the state. “Branding peasants as ‘encroachers’, the Tamil Nadu forest department is deploying every dirty trick in the book to evict toiling peasants from this terrain,” the statement said. “The fact that the major chunk of the affected peasants belongs to Adivasis, Dalits and Most Backward Classes is a mirror of the brutal forest governance regime implemented by the Indian ruling classes,” it added. AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said the communities met the Forest Rights Act’s definition of traditional forest dwellers. “The reality is that revenue records, Zamin records, historical maps, and census material of the contested terrain clearly demonstrate that people were already living and farming in this area before it was subsequently declared a reserve forest and wildlife sanctuary,” he said. The organisation said the Forest Rights Act had been undermined “in letter and spirit” by the forest bureaucracy. It said the Act prohibits the eviction or removal of forest dwellers from forest land under their occupation until the recognition and verification of their rights is complete. AIKS alleged that the Tamil Nadu forest bureaucracy had a record of violating the Forest Rights Act and manipulating other laws in cases involving Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers. “The Tamil Nadu forest bureaucracy — hand in glove with the elite conservation industry — has a notorious track record in violating FRA and manipulating other laws when it comes to the suppression of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers,” the statement said..•

Issue eligibility cards to tenant farmers: Telangana all-party meet urges govt
BusinessLine. An all-party meeting has called for implementing the Land Licensed Cultivators Act, 2011, and distributing loan eligibility cards to tenant farmers in Telangana. The meeting said in a resolution that this will help them access institutional credit. “The government should implement the Act immediately and ensure that farmers receive their loan eligibility cards in the current season itself,” they felt. Asking the government to take a decision in the ensuing Assembly session, representatives of various political parties said tenant farmers should be able to sell their produce to the government at the minimum support price. Over 22 lakh families depend on tenant farming, contributing significantly to the State’s agriculture. The meeting felt that tenant farmers could not access various government schemes. They could not access institutional credit, which forced them to rely on moneylenders that charged exorbitant interest rates.•

Many layers: On onion produce, issues
TheHindu. Since the 1960s, India has developed a balancing-act habit: between keeping food prices affordably low for consumers and assuring farmers of remunerative prices, with the state’s interventions focused on managing this volatility in the short term. This is also why the government banned onion exports from December 2023 to May 2024, then imposed a $550/tonne minimum export price and a 40% export duty, reduced the duty to 20% in September 2024, and finally abolished it in April 2025. But erratic weather together with the lack of long-term relief has rendered the act increasingly awkward. From farmers’ point of view, the government often changes its mind after they have made important production-related decisions based on the expected price. On the other hand, during the bounteous rabi harvest, onion farmers in Maharashtra, the country’s principal supplier, had argued that the Centre’s procurement price of ₹12.35/kg would not cover the costs of cultivation. The Centre subsequently raised the price to up to ₹26.45/kg, but many farmers — including some who had had to sell at ₹1/kg earlier because of low quality and lack of storage, among other factors — were unable to capture the higher value, exposing the limits of intervening after prices have already collapsed and not reaching all farmers or grades of produce. While the government has alluded to some price manipulation, the dominant issue remains that it keeps reacting instead of taking proactive measures, including improving storage options, maintaining a less erratic trade policy, moving stock more efficiently between regions, and protecting farmers against price shocks. The abnormal rainfall at the time of harvest and a 5%-7% drop in the kharif crop in Maharashtra, together with the well-known challenges associated with storing onions and maintaining large buffers, are simply among the pressures that highlighted the flaw this year. Further, Tamil Nadu’s targeted subsidy, to buy 1,000 tonnes of onions to distribute 1 kg per ration card at ₹35, will impose pressures on the Centre to maintain a steady supply. The move is commendably designed to discourage hoarding while allowing private retail prices to cool down. However, the State must also guard against the pitfalls of distributing onions through a dry-grain PDS network — its economic case could collapse if post-harvest losses, to which onion is more susceptible than, say, wheat or rice, exceed 10%-15% — and if the need arises to persist with the subsidy. Finally, if other States also adopt similar measures, the Central buffer could be quickly exhausted, more so given this year’s high storage losses of around 30%.•

Methodology of new GDP series is questionable, says Pronab Sen
BusinessStandard. Pronab Sen, the first chief statistician of India, in a telephonic conversation with Asit Ranjan Mishra, explains his key concern about the latest gross domestic product (GDP) data. Remember, the first estimate we get for quarterly GDP is based on very, very weak data. So, one can only go by recent history, and recent history has seen fairly substantial downward revisions. So, I am a little shaky about it because I have questions about the data. My personal hypothesis is that this 10 per cent nominal growth they’ve got is probably right. My question is really about the price deflators, which determine real GDP growth.  When you do the base revision, you make corrections for all the overstatements you made previously. Now, usually, these have not been very large. This time, the revision has been large, 7-8 per cent. And the principal reason for it, I think, is overestimation of GDP in the past.  We had not been able to calculate the PPI for more than two decades because producers didn’t give us the prices. They said that this is a trade secret. PPI you can only get from the producer. You can’t get it from anybody else, whereas the wholesale price index (WPI) is a market price, which you can go and take quotations. You can’t do that with PPI. The producer has to give it to you. And quite often, there is no one price because a producer may sell to a large distributor at one price and to a small distributor at a different price. So, he has to give you the average. I don’t know whether they’ve been able to collect this data. And if they have, I don’t know how they’ve done it unless Indian companies have become very cooperative. The good practice is that when you’re introducing a completely new dataset, you should run the two datasets in parallel. Make the estimates on the basis of the two sets separately and present them to the public. So, you can see what the differences are. But to say, I’m discontinuing this (WPI) and starting this (PPI) abruptly without any further information, what you’re saying, in effect, is, “Trust me”. But trust is only built when you can compare. Now, I can’t compare because I have no overlapping series. •

Movements

Farmers’ union to mobilise one million ‘swayamsevaks’ to fight trade deals
TheHindu. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella organisation for about 500 farmers’ outfits, has decided to enrol one million young kisan swayamsevaks (farmer volunteers) to protest against bilateral and multilateral trade treaties the country has signed or proposes to sign with other countries. The organisation will hold kisan panchayats in one lakh villages in September and October to galvanise farmers against such free trade agreements (FTAs). Talking to reporters here on Thursday (September 3, 2026), SKM leaders said delegations have met more than 100 Ministers, MPs, and MLAs across the country with a charter of demands that includes cancellation of all FTAs. They said they have also written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking an audience. “The Prime Minister’s Office received our letter but has not yet given us an appointment. SKM believes the PM has become inaccessible to India’s farmers who are 65% of the population. It is shocking that the PM has shown no interest in meeting representatives of the vast majority of the people of India, and this shows the RSS-BJP combine’s lack of concern for farmers,” they said.•

Punjab farmers launch protest at Chandigarh-Mohali border, press for MSP guarantee, debt waiver
TheNewIndianExpress. At a time when the AAP-led Punjab government is grappling with an agitation by employee unions, another major protest has started. Punjab farmers, under the banner of the umbrella organisation of all Kisan unions, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), on Tuesday started a seven-day pakka morcha farmers’ protest from September 1 to 7, camping on the road connecting Mohali with Chandigarh. The farmers are demanding a legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP), scrapping of the free trade agreement with the US and European countries, which the farmers are vehemently opposing, and a complete waiver of loans of both farmers and agricultural labourers. While water is one of the biggest Punjab-specific issues in the charter of demands, the farmers want previous agreements concerning the sharing of Punjab’s river waters scrapped and have demanded that the Punjab Assembly convene a special session on the issue. They also seek restoration of Punjab’s representation in the Bhakra Beas Management Board. The issue has gained renewed political salience after changes concerning Punjab’s permanent representation in the BBMB. The protest is significant because several of the demands are directed at the Centre, while others concern the Punjab government and the state’s long-standing dispute over water and its rights within the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).•

Natural Disasters and Agriculture

India likely to see sub-normal rainfall and high temperatures in September: IMD
TheWire. The India Meteorological Department (IMD), in its monthly outlook issued on Monday (August 31), predicted rainfall across the country to be below 91% of long-period average (LPA) of 167.9 mm during September. The press release stated that many parts of the country are likely to receive “below-normal rainfall” in September, although parts of northwest, northeast, east, east-central India and southeast peninsular India could receive “normal to above-normal rainfall.” Meanwhile, “above-normal maximum temperatures” will persist in most parts of the country. Minimum temperatures are also expected to remain above normal in most regions, except parts of northwest, west-central and northeast India, where they are likely to be normal to below normal. IMD’s forecast comes in the wake of the hottest August recorded in India since 1901. The month also recorded a a 16% rainfall deficit, according to the IMD. The department attributed the continuing weather conditions partly to El Niño, with strong El Niño conditions prevailing over the equatorial Pacific Ocean, raising sea surface temperatures across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific. These conditions are expected to strengthen further in the coming months, IMD said. The forecast comes as the southwest monsoon enters its final month. The prospect of a rainfall-deficient September, a typically important month for rainfall-dependent agriculture, could put additional pressure on crops that are still in critical stages of development, especially after sub-optimal rainfall conditions in August.•

El Niño update: WMO forecasts strongest El Niño in 50 years, to continue through February 2027
RuralVoice. El Niño has become firmly established and is expected to intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, increasing the risks of extreme heat, floods and drought across different parts of the world, according to a new update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). WMO forecasts indicate an exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100% that El Niño will persist through February 2027, marking the strongest level of certainty in the organization’s 50-year history of El Niño/La Niña updates. The event is expected to peak toward the end of 2026, with its climate impacts potentially continuing well into 2027. The intensification is being driven by exceptionally warm conditions in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The Niño 3.4 index, which measures sea-surface temperature anomalies in the central-eastern equatorial Pacific, averaged 1.5°C above normal during May-July 2026 and reached 2.0°C above normal in July. Weekly readings subsequently climbed to around 2.2°C-2.6°C above average between late July and mid-August. Ocean temperatures beneath the surface are even more unusual, with some areas recording temperatures more than 8°C above average during July and early August. These conditions, combined with strong atmospheric signals, point to further strengthening of the event. WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo warned that the impacts could include significant disruption to communities and economies, with droughts and floods already causing damage in some regions. She said the exceptional El Niño requires exceptional preparedness and response, with national meteorological and hydrological services being mobilized to strengthen early-warning efforts.•

Data

Agriculture, allied sectors clock 3.6% GVA growth in Q1FY27: MoSPI data
BusinessStandard. Agriculture and allied activities clocked a gross value added (GVA) growth of 3.6 per cent in the first quarter of FY27, down from 4.4 per cent registered during the same period last financial year, latest data released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI) on Monday showed. The drop could be due to the impact of low production in animal husbandry and livestock sectors that were impacted by flooding and extreme heat from April to June, experts said.  “This (impact of livestock sector on GVA) is all the more possible because usually in the April to June period, agriculture activities are low across India and mostly residual crop comes into the market,” said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda. He said the actual impact of low monsoon on agriculture and allied activities’ GVA for FY27 will be felt in the coming quarters.  “Our estimate is that full-year agriculture and allied activities GVA in FY27 could be around 3.5-4 per cent, which is in line with the long-term trend of the sector but with a distinct downward bias,” Sabnavis said. The downward bias was due to the fact that despite revival in rains, kharif acreage would continue to be lower than last year. This would mean that though it might improve due to late rains, the backlog would not be recovered, he added.•

Manufacturing PMI falls to 5-year low in August amid sales slowdown
BusinessStandard. India’s private sector manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace in five years in August as weak demand slowed sales, output and hiring, a private survey showed on Tuesday. HSBC’s India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), which tracks monthly changes, fell to 52.8 in August from 53.5 in July. The reading was the lowest since August 2021 (when it was 52.3) and also below the index’s long-run average of 54.2. The latest figure — a weighted average of new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases — was also below the Flash India Manufacturing PMI estimate of 52.9 released earlier in August. “India’s final manufacturing PMI slipped to 52.8 in August, extending its decline for a third consecutive month. The output index fell to its lowest level since August 2021, signalling that production is still expanding but at a markedly slower pace,” said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC.•

Govt sets paddy procurement target at 708.64 lakh tons in KMS 2026-27, lower than actuals of last 3 yrs
BusinessLine. The Centre on Tuesday set a paddy procurement target of 708.64 lakh tonne (LMT) for the 2026-27 Kharif Marketing Season, starting on October 1, which is lower than the actual procurement levels recorded in each of the previous three seasons. The target was finalised after a review meeting with state food secretaries, chaired by Union Food Secretary Sanjeev Chopra. “Following deliberations with states/UTs, the paddy procurement estimates for the ensuing Kharif Marketing Season (KMS) 2026-27 were fixed at 708.64 LMT in terms of paddy,” the Food Ministry said in a statement.•

Why eggs and chicken are costlier this year
BusinessLine. Egg and chicken prices have risen sharply across India this year, leaving consumers wondering why two of the country’s most accessible sources of protein have suddenly become more expensive. While weather-related disruptions and seasonal supply pressures have played a role, a significant part of the answer lies further up the value chain: poultry feed. Higher prices of maize, soybean meal and other feed ingredients are raising the cost of producing every egg and every kilogram of chicken. This matters because India’s poultry sector operates on tight margins. Feed accounts for nearly two-thirds of the cost of producing eggs and broiler chicken, making changes in agricultural commodity prices almost impossible for farmers to absorb indefinitely. Maize and soybean meal are the two critical ingredients in poultry feed. Maize provides energy, while soybean meal is an important source of protein. According to recent industry estimates, maize accounts for roughly 55-60 per cent of poultry feed, while soybean is the main source of protein. This concentration means even a relatively short period of price inflation can substantially alter farm economics.