-The Times of India   AMRITSAR: The first budget presented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has deflated the expectations of farmers who were looking for 'achhe din' ahead. With a major chunk of farmers reeling under debt, famers and their leaders were disappointed on finding that the finance minister's speech was silent on measures to address the crucial issue of farmer suicides. "In Punjab, the state government's official figures put the farmers'...

-The Hindu Nagpur: With the highest number of farmer suicides recorded in the year 2013, Maharashtra continues to paint a dismal picture on the agrarian front with over 3,000 farmers taking their lives. According to a recent report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), a total of 3,146 farmers killed themselves in the state in 2013. Maharashtra repeated this performance despite the state registering 640 less farm suicides than 2012. According to NCRB...

-The Tribune The community has to pay the cost of environmental degradation if sustainable agricultural practices are not followed. Food can also be produced by in-built provisions for ecological services. For this, sustainability issues have to be addressed with policy support. An ecosystem is a dynamic, complex, functional unit of diverse living organisms, physical environment and humans are its integral part. The wellbeing of mankind depends upon food, water, fibre, medicine, flood...

-Down to Earth As June ends, the monsoon, it turns out, is deficient by 40 per cent. Despite the forecast of its revival in July, it is a concern for India's rainfed areas that account for significant foodgrain production and also host the largest number of farmers in the country. More than 100 districts are officially "chronic drought-affected" areas. Why have we not been able to drought-proof them? On June 28 Prime...

-Foreign Policy Farmers are killing themselves over debt in Punjab state -- and leaving wives, daughters, and other women behind. Please click here to read more. ...