-Livemint.com The petitioners have pinned their hopes on a clause in the 2013 land law that the government is now planning to amend   Punjabhai Modhwadia, 42, isn’t giving up his land. Not without a fight. Sitting under a banyan tree overlooking fields of cotton, jowar and groundnut, next to what Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh Ambani called one of the biggest construction sites in the world, the Jamnagar farmer describes why...

-Livemint.com Farmers’ welfare is a multi-dimensional issue, with the farm ministry playing a small but significant role Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to rename the ministry of agriculture to ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare may be symbolic, but is at the least a recognition of the stress in rural economy. The stress, particularly in the farming sector, is now all too obvious with the increase in suicides being reported in many...

-The Hindu Belagavi (Karnataka): At a time when a substantial number of small and marginal farmers are turning bankrupt owing to crop loss, non-remunerative prices for their produce, and inability to cope with the increasing cost of living, among reasons, a young progressive farmer has shown the way towards economic empowerment. Rajiv Malleshappa Rachannavar (34) of Inchal village in Saudatti taluk gave up education after SSLC. He joined his father in running...

-The Hindu How private wells and paddy are drying up the southern State. Chennai: Tamil Nadu is water deficit. A structural deficit and not a seasonal one. The total assessed water resources in the State amount to 1,587 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) while the State government's demand estimate is 1,894 TMC. Demand exceeds supply by 19.3 per cent; this happens when rainfall is "normal". Consider what gets reported as normal: the aggregate...

-Economic and Political Weekly Farmers' unions and political parties have been demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan minimum support price (cost plus 50%) to address agrarian crisis and farmers' distress. But they have not raised demands for the implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers, which have the potential to provide lasting solutions. Ranjit Singh Ghuman (ghumanrs@yahoo.co.uk) is a Nehru SAIL Chair Professor, Centre for Research in Rural and...