Crop failure, debts, and personal reasons behind deaths Seven farmers have committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh in less than a month. Kanhaiya Patel (30) of Hata village in Damoh district committed suicide on Wednesday taking the total to seven. He had taken an acre of land on lease and had a debt of Rs.20,000. After his entire arhar (pulses) crop failed, the landowner is reported to have said that if any compensation...

Depressed over his crop getting damaged due to frost, a farmer attempted suicide by consuming Pesticide in Madhya Pradesh's Damoh district Monday. It was the second such incident in the past three days in the district. The BJP government denied that any farmer had tried to kill himself due to debt. State Minister and government spokesperson Narottam Mishra told reporters: 'No farmer has committed suicide due to debt and there is...

Over the past decade, as crops have failed year after year, 200,000 farmers have killed themselves Naryamaswamy Naik went to the cupboard and took out a tin of Pesticide. Then he stood before his wife and children and drank it. "I don't know how much he had borrowed. I asked him, but he wouldn't say," Sugali Nagamma said, her tiny grandson playing at her feet. "I'd tell him: don't worry, we...

Farmers education should be given priority to widen their understanding on nutrients and other scientific means to boost agriculture production, renowned agri-scientist Chandrashekhar Singh has said today. "Only educated farmer could understand the benefits of nutrient foodgrains and will be able to grow them," Chandrashekhar Singh, Head of Banaras Agriculture Research Foundation Society, told reporters here. Singh, who was recently honoured by the President of India for his valuable contribution in the...

There is a suggestion circulating in the corridors of our apex monetary regulatory authority, the Reserve Bank of India, that food inflation is beginning to look more ‘structural’ than ‘seasonal’, and it can only be tackled by addressing the supply side. We need to address both demand and supply sides simultaneously to tackle food inflation. While we must be happy that more and more poor eat fruits and cook vegetables...