In a major effort to boost the income of farmers Government decides to raise the fair and remunerative price of sugarcane, cabinet raises  FRP to rupees 275 per quintal.

The government has increased the fair and remunerative price (FRP) of sugarcane by Rs 20 per quintal to Rs 275 for the forthcoming 2018-19 sugar season, beginning October.

The decision on FRP was taken at Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs meeting. The FRP is the minimum guaranteed price that farmers can get for their sugarcane crop. The states, however, have the freedom to fix a higher price.

Sugarcane price is normally linked to a basic recovery of 9.5 per cent. For every 0.1 per cent point increase in recovery, farmers get an additional Rs 2.68 per quintal. Over the years, recovery levels have improved in most sugar-producing states, helping farmers to earn more from their crop.

Cabinet has approved extension of pre-matric, post-matric and merit scholarships for Minority students by 3 years. Nearly 1 Crore 66 lakh students have benefited from these scholarships.

Government has also decided to make insolvency resolution more transparent, efficient and equitable. Cabinet has approved Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2018.

Cabinet has also approved Special Remission to Prisoners on the occasion of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. As part of this decision prisoners who fall in 5 categories are will be granted clemency. This includes those not accused of heinous crimes or sedition and have completed 50% of their sentence

Another decision taken is the approval of the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2018. This will lead to the setting up of a Central University of  Andhra Pradesh. Cabinet has also approved the setting up of a Medical College will in Deoria.

In another decision, Vidarbha, Marathwada and other chronically drought prone areas of Maharashtra will get irrigation projects. A Special Package for utilization of irrigation potential of about 3.77 lakh hectare has been approved.