-The Indian Express Farm distress, particularly the stray cattle menace and the crisis in livestock sector, and mounting sugarcane arrears could dampen the BJP’s performance in UP. If one wants to know the quality of our evolving democracy, one must watch the ongoing election campaign in India. It is great fun too. And nothing is more interesting than tracking it in Uttar Pradesh (UP), where the real political battle is being...

-Mongabay.com * The Marathwada region in Maharashtra is in the midst of another drought. While most of the area is dry, some villages practising watershed development are surprisingly green. * In the absence of political interventions some villages are going into self-help mode. Villagers allege vested interests in ‘man-made’ drought. * Lack of policy changes and political will have also been blamed for current situation. * Meena Menon travelled extensively through the drought-hit districts...

-Scroll.in Ahead of polls, despite the dire situation, there is neither work under employment guarantee scheme nor any cattle camps, fodder depots for livestock. The irony is unmistakable. In the Marathwada region of Maharashtra, which is in the grip of arguably the worst drought since 1972, what stands out is hectic road construction. En route from Jalna to Ambad, a massive machine lays out a spanking new concrete road. Meanwhile, across the...

-The Hindu Agrarian crisis has not dimmed Prime Minister Modi’s appeal The Sugarcane Farmers gathered around a tree-shaded charpoy at Bhainswala village, a few kilometres from Shamli town in western Uttar Pradesh, share a common litany of woes — late payments, high input costs, the stray cattle menace — for which most blame the policies of the BJP government. But when the discussion veers around to the Lok Sabha election, pandemonium breaks out...

-Scroll.in Recent farm loan waivers and income support schemes have had little impact amid growing agrarian distress. In January, farmers across the state of Punjab took to the roads in protest. In 12 districts of the state, they were protesting against banks that filed cases against loan defaulting farmers. Also part of their demands from the government was compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for families of farmers that had committed suicides,...