This paper has documented the difficulties faced by farmers due to demonetization, facilities existing for making digital payments and farmers’ opinion about it. The study has used primary data collected through farm survey done in October 2017, almost a year after demonetization. The survey was made in three adopted villages under MGMG (Mera Gaon Mera Gaurav) scheme in Palwal district of Haryana. Results have shown that due to demonetization farmers faced numerous difficulties (both crop production and family related activities). They could not use quality inputs (particularly seeds of wheat) in desired quantity, got delayed payment of their crop produce and faced problems in drawing money from bank. Family and societal needs were also affected. Payment in cash was the main mode of transactions (and even now) for food and non-food articles. Analysis revealed that large number of farmers have bank account and are availing facilities of debit cum ATM card, but their functional literacy and infrastructure are inadequate. Farmers’ expressed both merits and demerits about digital payments. Nevertheless, without removing fear of farmers and other rural people and bringing change in their attitude, moving towards digital mode of transactions will not trigger desired results.

Exploring linkages between agriculture, nutrition and human health has become an emerging field of research. Literature shows us both positive and negative externalities of agriculture on nutrition and health. Hence, the first step towards exploring agriculture–nutrition linkages would be ‘establishing’ the relationship between agriculture and nutrition, and thereby human health. This study, while doesn’t explicitly model and estimate complex linkages, attempts to study the direction, strength and magnitude of agriculture on nutritional status in rural India. Using a panel data covering 1991–2012, the study explores the linkages at two stages. Analysis indicates a ‘positive causality’ of agriculture on human nutrition and the ordinary least squares estimates provide evidence for it. Fixed effects estimates confirm the ‘positive causality’ after controlling for the effects of several factors. The study concludes that agriculture has a significant positive influence on nutrition, and thereby on health.

This paper examines productivity, profitability and resource use efficiency of cotton production in Palwal district of Haryana (India). The study is based on primary data collected from a total of 120 farmers selected randomly using two-stage sampling and data related to agricultural year 2017-18. Analytical tools like farm business analysis and production function approach is applied to summarise data. Results have revealed that large farms were more productive and earned higher profit from cotton production than small and medium farms. The regression results have shown that factors like human labour, phosphatic fertilizer, farm machinery and zinc had positive and significant impacts on cotton yield. The MVP of human labour, and phosphatic fertilizer were greater than unity indicating underutilization. However, other resources were applied in excess and suggested to utilize optimally to improve the yield of cotton.