A very happy, peaceful, and prosperous new year to readers of this column.

What could I wish for Indian agriculture, a subject that has been my lifelong passion and commitment? My dream would be to see vibrant and sustainable agriculture, which is climate resilient, increases productivity, brings prosperity to farmers, and most of all, improves the real wages of farm workers, who are at the bottom of the economic pyramid. It is only by raising productivity that India can rein in food inflation, which has been playing spoilsport of late. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been literally humbled by veggies inflation at 29 per cent (and potato inflation at 67 per cent) in November 2024. They have not allowed the Bank to reduce the repo rate. That is simply tragic.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has made it clear that 2024 was the warmest year since 1901, and that temperatures have been 0.9 degrees Celsius higher in 2024 compared to the Long Period Average. Earlier, studies by scientists of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research had predicted that an increase in temperature by one degree Celsius runs the risk of reducing wheat output by five per cent. Wheat is likely to be most impacted by heat spikes in February when grain formation happens.

Although Prime Minister

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