-The Indian Express Demonetisation may not have hit agriculture production but it is the cause for the current unrest When demonetisation happened, many, including this writer, thought the decision, taken at the start of rabi plantings in November, would significantly impact farm production. We were proved wrong. Good monsoon rains, after successive drought years, besides the timely onset of winter conducive to germination, turned out to be strong motivations for farmers...
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Farmers protest: In mobilisation, farmer allies turned on govts -Partha Sarahti Biswas, Kavitha Iyer & Zeeshan Shaikh
-The Indian Express As the farm protests in Maharashtra spilled over to MP, with five people killed in police firing in Mandsaur last week, The Sunday Express looks at the economics and politics of the unrest ONE gloomy afternoon this March, a disillusioned Dhanu Dhorde Patil, 43, sat watching his television in Dongaon village, about 2 km from Puntamba in Ahmednagar district, the heart of the recent farmers’ agitation in Maharashtra....
More »Devendra Fadnavis waives farm loans of Rs 30,000 crore, but protests spread -Shubhangi Khapre & Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Devendra Fadnavis said, “The loan waiver, which will come into force by October 31, 2017, will be restricted to small and marginal farmers with land holdings of five acres.” Pune: In the face of spiralling protests across Maharashtra, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday announced a farm loan waiver of Rs 30,000 crore, the biggest such write-off for farmers in the state. But by afternoon, it was clear that...
More »Direct transfer, 2 lakh sale points: Big fertiliser subsidy reform rollout in June -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Under the proposed system, payment of subsidy is to be based on weekly settlement of claims from actual sales data captured on POS machines. Buoyed by its landslide win in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the Narendra Modi government has decided to fast-track the implementation of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system for payment of fertiliser subsidy to farmers. From the coming kharif season, beginning June, the Rs...
More »Maharashtra Farm Ponds: accelerating groundwater exploitation, rather than harvesting rain? -Amruta Pradhan
-South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP) Farm ponds dotting the agricultural fields immediately grab your attention as you enter Hiwargaon Pawasa – a small village of about 1500 population in Sangamner Taluka of Ahmadnagar District. The village is located just off NH-50, the national highway connecting Pune and Nashik. Farm ponds start to appear as soon as you turn east from NH-50 (which broadly runs North South) to...
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