-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,...

-The Times of India Farmer unrest in Tamil Nadu is a much-debated subject on the eve of the Lok Sabha polls. However, the widespread agrarian distress has been in the making for decades as successive governments have had little understanding of the sector’s problems. Now that elections are here, farmers, who are an influential group in most of the constituencies, are again the focus of political campaigners. “Both the Congress and the...

-The Hindu Manifesto includes repealing AFSPA. Targeting the Narendra Modi government for a 45-year high in unemployment figures, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) in its manifesto, released on Thursday in Delhi, said the “right to work” should be enshrined in the Constitution and there should be a provision of allowance for those without jobs. The party’s campaign song too captures the party’s accusation with lyrics that say “Aab ki baar, Modi...

-Frontline.in The cash transfer schemes the Narendra Modi government and several State governments have announced to woo the peasantry ahead of the election, like the loan waivers, short-change farmers because they avoid the vital issue of remunerative prices for farm produce. In a sudden flurry of new-found concern for the long-suffering Indian peasant, parties across the political spectrum are desperately trying to woo this section of society. In fact, ever since...

-Scroll.in In Telangana, large landholders are benefiting disproportionately from the scheme. In Odisha, families of ministers were on initial beneficiary lists. Early on January 25, Saroj Kumar Sahu and Manu Patel, two farmers from a western Odisha village, boarded a bus with around 10 others from their village to travel across the state to Puri. They were among thousands of farmers from the state’s 147 Assembly constituencies who were chosen to attend...