Issues today have to be dressed up in ways certified by the corporate media. They have to be justified not by their importance to the public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors. That the terrible tragedy in Pune demands serious, sober coverage is a truism. One of the side-effects of the ghastly blast has been unintended, though. The orgy of self-congratulation that marked the media...
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Farm suicides: a 12-year saga by P Sainath
In 2006-08, Maharashtra saw 12, 493 farm suicides. That is 85 per cent higher than the 6,745 suicides it recorded during 1997-1999. And the worst three-year period for any State, any time. The loan waiver year of 2008 saw 16,196 farm suicides in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. Compared to 2007, that’s a fall of just 436. As economist Professor K. Nagaraj who has worked in-depth on...
More »Nearly 2 lakh farm suicides since 1997 by P Sainath
Over two-thirds in ‘suicide belt’ of five States, more than one-fifth in Maharashtra There were at least 16,196 farmers’ suicides in India in 2008, bringing the total since 1997 to 199,132, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). The share of the Big 5 States or ‘suicide belt’ in 2008 — Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh — remained very high at 10,797, or 66.6 per cent...
More »Finance panel wants deficit cut back by Sanjiv Shankaran and Utpal Bhaskar
The 13th Finance Commission (TFC) has recommended a return to fiscal consolidation and reform in expenditure management. It has also suggested the Centre offer states a share of revenue raised from levies such as cesses and surcharges, according to people familiar with the report. TFC, a statutory body tasked with suggesting ways in which taxes should be shared between the Centre and states and drawing up a road map towards fiscal...
More »A Full Round Meal by Sharat Pradhan
Barely 50 km from the capital of India's most populous state, in Daulatpur village in Barabanki district, a mini agriculture revolution is taking place. What 41-year-old Ram Saran Verma began in 1996 on a 6-acre plot of land in a remote rural pocket has now grown into an 85-acre empire that feeds hundreds of workers, besides providing indirect employment to many more. "The urge to do something beyond the routine...
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