Even as the media celebrate the Mercedes Benz deal in the Marathwada region as a sign of “rural resurgence,” the latest data show that 17,368 farmers killed themselves in the year of the “resurgence.” When businessmen from Aurangabad in the backward Marathwada region bought 150 Mercedes Benz luxury cars worth Rs. 65 crore at one go in October, it grabbed media attention. The top public sector bank, State Bank of India,...

Be it a bumper or lean season __ life for Karnataka's farmers remains unchanged as they are exploited by middlemen. While last week came as a boon to onion farmers as prices skyrocketed in an unprecedented manner, it all came to an end on Wednesday following the government's decision to stop exports until January 15 to contain the rates here, resulting in a sudden drop in per quintal rates and sending...

Traversing 20 states of India the Yatra had a three point agenda: Food, Farmers, Freedom. On December 11, while the bulk of yatris were at Raj Ghat, their representatives went to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi. The list of demands they submitted provides a bird's eye view to the war that is now taking shape. Proponents of Kisan Swaraj want both the government and private sector to, among other things: 1. Stop treating...

The Centre today sought to justify the export ban on onion by saying that the wholesale price of onion in Nashik, the country’s largest wholesale hub for the bulb crop, had declined by 33 per cent to Rs 2,500 per 100kg or Rs 25 a kg. The impact will not be felt immediately on kitchen budgets as it will take some time – “two to three weeks”, according to Sharad Pawar...

Over 200 families in this district of Madhya Pradesh continue to bear the brunt of caste discrimination.Vidisha, a thriving trade centre of ancient India, finds glorious mention variously for Emperor Ashoka's governorship, for featuring in Pali scriptures and Kalidasa's romantic epic Meghdoot, as a premier tourist destination in glossy brochures of Madhya Pradesh Tourism and as the parliamentary constituency of Sushma Swaraj, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok...