Condemning the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government for the continued suicides by farmers in the state, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday said the 'insensitive behaviour' of the state government was forcing farmers to take the extreme step. In a statement issued on Thursday, Singh said that "because of the state government's insensitive behaviour, farmers were losing patience and being forced to take the extreme step of ending their lives." Seven farmers...

It's an irony of sorts. Mannina Maga (son of the soil) and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda's home district Hassan has emerged as the capital of farmers' suicides in Karnataka. Government statistics show that nearly 2,597 killed themselves between 2003 and 2010, making it the worst period for farmer suicides in the state. Among 30 districts from where suicides were reported, nearly 268 suicides were reported in Hassan...

Madhya Pradesh Farmer Welfare and Agriculture Development Minister Ramkrishna Kusmaria has courted a controversy by blaming farmers’ suicides on their “past sins”. “These are old sins that are resulting in such incidents,”the minister told a TV channel on Wednesday, and elaborated it by pointing to indiscriminate use of “chemicals” that has reduced the fertility and “resistance power” of agricultural land. A few cases of farmers’ suicides have been recently reported from Damoh,...

Farmers' protesting ban on cotton and onion exports on Monday created a few moments of panic as they set ablaze a trolley-full of cotton some 200 metres from the Nagpur airport building. The situation was soon brought under control and farmers dispersed after the symbolic protest. Over 2000 farmers led by Bacchu Kadu, the maverick independent MLA from Achalpur in Amravati district, marched through the busy Wardha road to airport...

The gushing in of bone-chilling cold wave has spelt disaster for the cotton farmers in Vidarbha. Nine farmers have killed themselves since Thursday as snow and hail ruins an almost-ready crop. "My brother was very worried after the cold winds and the hail killed the crop. Two days ago, he talked about it with my wife. We did not think he will kill himself," said Dhanraj Pohekar, a resident of Taamaswaadi...