-ANI Chennai: Indian agriculture is at the cross roads, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, father of India's first Green Revolution, has warned. Lamenting on the state of Indian farmers, especially farmers with small land-holdings, Dr. Swaminathan said, "The market economy certainly is not friendly to small farmers. WTO regulations are also hindrance. Even in the United States which is the heartland of the free market economy, farmers are insulated from market shocks through heavy...

-The Indian Express During the election campaign, the BJP had promised a 50 per cent profit margin on minimum support prices to farmers. But over the past year, the optimism of farmers has turned to despair. Since the parliamentary elections, basmati paddy prices have fallen by 35 per cent and cotton by 25 per cent. The era of cooperative federalism notwithstanding, the Centre practically decreed that states not announce a crop...

-The Times of India NAGPUR: Subhash Vasant Kamdi and Varsha Anant Bhoyar, organic farmers from Wardha and Nagpur districts, respectively, have set ideal examples for promoting indigenous agriculture and processing. They are also propagating how traditional agriculture can still be more sustainable as compared to commercial agriculture. Kamdi has been into organic cultivation of various crops like wheat and sugarcane. Speaking to TOI during the ongoing three-day 'Seed Festival', he said that...

-Kafila.org With depressing regularity, the newspapers have been reporting farmers' suicides in many states. Recently, P Sainath wrote on BBC that around 296,438 farmers have committed suicide since 1995. He also mentions that cash crop cultivators of cotton, sugar cane, vanilla, pepper, groundnut etc account for the bulk of those suicides. According to a PIL heard by the Supreme Court in December 2014, around 3146 farmers in Maharashtra have committed suicide...

-The Hindu Millets in one's diet can help prevent diabetes,says Dr. Vijay Viswanathan Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder in which a person has high blood glucose (sugar), either because of inadequate insulin production, or because the body's cells do not respond properly to insulin, or both. Prolonged exposure to diabetes damages important organs like the eye, the kidney, the heart and nerves, as the result of damage to small blood vessels. Heredity,...