-The Hindu PAU is now recommending farmers to sow traditional non-Bt varieties of American and indigenous cotton The ineffectiveness of genetically modified (GM) cotton against the recent whitefly attack in Punjab and Haryana, which witnessed widespread protests by farmers, has raised concern among agricultural experts and farmers over the growing dependency on Bt cotton. They believe it is time for India to actively promote and involve public-private partnership (PPP) model in GM crop...

-Livemint.com The destruction of almost two-thirds of the state’s cotton crop by the whitefly has forced 15 farmers to commit suicide, pushed hundreds of others into debt An insect has ravaged the cotton crop across Punjab’s Malwa region. The destruction of almost two-thirds of the state’s cotton crop by the whitefly has forced as many as 15 farmers to commit suicide and pushed hundreds of others into debt. A Times of India report...

-Hindustan Times Bhubaneswar: Debt and drought have reportedly forced five Odisha farmers to commit suicide in as many days, prompting the human rights commission on Tuesday to take note of the state’s deepening farm crisis. The farmers — all of them in their 40s — allegedly took the drastic step after their paddy crop wilted because of scanty rainfall and they have loans to repay. In another case, it was cotton. At least...

-IANS Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Human Rights Commission (OHRC) on Tuesday asked the state government to submit within four weeks a report over the alleged farmer suicides in the state. Hearing a petition over suicides of farmers due to crop loss in the state, OHRC's working chairman Justice B.K. Mishra directed the government to inquire into the claims and submit a report, said an OHRC official here. The secretaries of agriculture and revenue and...

-Livemint.com Drought declaration can provide farmers relief through compensation for crop damage and restructuring of loans New Delhi: Even though the monsoon ended with a 14% rainfall deficit, with nearly half the country’s districts facing a shortage of over 20%, states are delaying declaring a drought that could provide immediate relief to farmers by compensating for crop damage and restructuring farm loans. The June-September monsoon, which irrigates over half the country’s farm...