Money makes news. When it is found, promiscuously. And when it is lost, presumptively. And when it is found to lie hidden. Also when it stands brazenly, as in election candidatures. Does hunger, to satisfy which money, income, wages — the power to purchase food — are needed, make news? Does the crisis in our agriculture make news? When Amartya Sen speaks of hunger and malnutrition, when MS Swaminathan does so...

  Madhya Pradesh witnessed as many as 27,254 suicides between January 1, 2007 and January 31, 2011, but only 13 farmers took their lives due to debt or poverty during this period. Amid claims and counter-claims over suicides by debt-ridden farmers, the state government provided these figures to the Assembly in a written reply on Tuesday. The government claimed only one farmer took his life due to debt/poverty in 2009, two each...

A total of 2,639 farmers killed themselves in Orissa in the past ten years, the state's Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout said Tuesday. He also claimed that none of the suicides was due to farm related problems or crop loss. The farmers killed themselves mostly due to personal problems and family disputes, he told the state assembly. Of the total deaths, 2,575 committed suicide between 2000 and 2008. The remaining 64 deaths took...

Famously known as the seed crusader' of UP, Prakash Singh Raghuvanshi has developed over 100 species of indigenous seeds of wheat, paddy and other edible items that are compatible to the country's weather. While talking about his mission of conventional seed conservation, at a meeting in Sambalpur on Sunday he said, "Through my 15 years experience I have developed several species of indigenous seeds that are giving high yielding in...

With one cotton farmer committing suicide every alternate day, the district has become a virtual killing field for growers grappling with the socio-economic upheaval caused by crop failure this season. The current spate of suicides started at the beginning of the last quarter of 2010, when it became clear that the excessive rain irreparably damaged the crops. Dismal yields and mounting debts drove 30 farmers to death during this period. With 16...