-DNA   Muzaffarpur (Bihar): Some 30 kms away from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, in Moshari block, peasants sit around a common hookah at a village chaupal after an exhausting day. They sign Maithili folk songs and relating stories of Raj Kishore and Tasleemudin, legendary Naxalite leaders who took on local landlords in the 1960s. This region, along with Naxalbari in neighbouring West Bengal, was the centre of bloody clashes, forcing socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan...

-The Hindu Business Line   Technology is transforming Indian agriculture and increasing output. This is good news, given that India may need to produce 90 million tonnes of foodgrain annually by 2030 to feed its growing population, says Vishwanath Kulkarni Jitendra, a prosperous farmer from Machrauli in Haryana, had barely hired a combine to harvest wheat on his 10-acre plot when clouds started building up. The weather office had predicted rains over the...

-The Times of India   RAJKOT: Farmers in Saurashtra are a worried lot following the unseasonal showers that were received on Sunday and Monday. Major damage to the harvested crop of wheat, cotton, chilly and coriander has been reported from the agriculture produce committee markets (APMCs) across the region. The harvested crop lying in the open got spoilt by the rain and thunderstorm. The losses are estimated to be in crores. Even the...

-The Indian Express   Crops not enough to sustain them, farmers make it work with dairy, fishery, and implement hiring.   Jalandhar: When Harinder Singh of Bhamri village in Kadian block of Gurdaspur district graduated in 2008, his family wanted him to take up postgraduation and go abroad to improve his prospects. Harinder, however, had other ideas - he insisted that he would stay on in the village and follow the family occupation of...

-The Hindu Kerala: Getting a crop loan from a bank and after repaying the entire amount getting back the land or house papers submitted as collateral security for availing the loan are not easy tasks. "Farmers know well how hard it is to get a bank loan today. In several cases they are often in the dark about their eligibility for applying or interest calculated on their loan amount disbursed. "As an answer...