-DNA Farmers' suicides are as much a consequence of indebtedness as the failure of the government to offer solutions to make agriculture a viable profession. Astring of farmers' suicides, in the aftermath of hailstorms and unseasonal rainfall over the past fortnight, in Maharashtra sheds light on the parlous state of Indian agriculture. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics tell us that over 2.8 lakh farmers have committed suicide since 1995. Though attempts...

-The Guardian Rice conservationist Debal Deb grapples with 'mindless Indian elite' to reintroduce genetically diverse, drought-tolerant varieties   Fifty years ago, every Indian village would probably have grown a dozen or more rice varieties that grew nowhere else. Passed down from generation to generation and family to family, there would have been a local variety for every soil and taste - rice that would grow well in droughts or deep floods, which had...

-The Hindu Business Line The focus of land reforms should change from ceilings to minimum size A significant 72 per cent of farmers ‘like' farming as a profession, according to a recent nationwide survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS). This is greater than the 60 per cent figure reported in an official 2003 National Sample Survey round. True, the two surveys may not be entirely comparable...

-Sify.com A survey said 76 per cent of farmers would prefer to do other work, while 60 per cent wanted their children to migrate to and settle in a city. These are a grim reminder of the condition of the 120-million farmer households in India. The survey, by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Lokniti for Bharat Krishak Samaj, of 5,000 farmer households across 137 districts in 18 states...

-Boloji.com Yavatmal is one of 35 districts in Maharashtra state in Indian subcontinent. It is located in the Vidarbha region, in the east-central part of the state. By the time of British rule, its head quarter was at Wani called Wun by then; now it is shifted to Yavatmal. This district is tribal dominated one. According to the 2011 census, total population of this district is 2,772,348 inclusive of 469,000 tribal...