-PTI Maharashtra has reported 135 cases of farmers' suicide in the Aurangabad division during a short period of the first 58 days in 2015 due to successive natural calamities and scarcity situation. In a written reply to the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Agriculture Mohanbhai Kundaria also said: "In the last three years i.e. 2012, 2013 and 2014, there were 662 cases of farmers' suicide which were eligible for compensation of...

-Deccan Herald Make new entrants provide 40 per cent risk coverage to the farming sector on a household basis. Unseasonal rains and strong winds that lashed the entire north-western region have done immense damage to the standing crops. The Union Ministry of Agriculture has estimated damage to standing crops in 50 lakh hectares in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. Coming after an extended...

-The Indian Express The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and food processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for all practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But...

-The Tribune Chief Minister pushes for crop diversification, says will provide farmers all help Chandigarh: Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the state government would provide 50 per cent subsidy to farmers willing to rear cows for producing organic dairy products, besides setting up a board to sort out issues and requirements pertaining to organic farming. Addressing participants on the concluding day of the National Organic Farming Convention here, Badal said the...

-PTI Chandigarh: Punjab's farming sector has expressed disappointment over the Union Budget for not taking "pro-farmers" decision to provide much-needed fillip to the state's agriculture which has been suffering with "high" input cost and "lower" output prices. Even the farm experts have also expressed displeasure with the budget for not announcing any financial assistance to Punjab to promote crop diversification as state's wheat-paddy production has reached saturation point, besides taking a toll...