-The Times of India More than five months after the CBI began investigating Coalgate, the agency is yet to receive hundreds of files from the coal ministry as it probes charges of criminality in allocation of coal blocks to private players. Although CBI has been sifting through an enormous mass of information regarding coal block allocations that the CAG has said caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the government,...

-Outlook UPA’s populist trumpcard of 2008—the farm loan waiver—has fallen short of its intended target, as a CAG audit throws up The Scheme     2008 Union finance minister P. Chidambaram announces farmer debt waiver and relief scheme in budget; PM Manmohan Singh writes to beneficiaries “seeking their support”     Rs 52,275 cr Total money that was disbursed to eligible farmers across the nation as part of loan waiver scheme     Rs 50,000 The loan...

-Pratirodh.com The streets of the obscure town of Pandharkawda in Yavatmal district of Maharashtra have come to life. Hundreds of villagers crowd them for the weekly haat to buy their supplies of vegetables, spices, pulses and tobacco, while farmers throng shops selling seeds, pesticides, manure and farm commodities. Dressed in bright cotton sarees, women haggle with vendors. Even doctors, especially dentists, are having a busy day with long queues of patients...

-Outlook Bitter Seeds, a documentary film produced by US-based filmmaker Micha Peled on the agrarian crisis of cotton growers and their plight, is being shown in Vidarbha region. "Every 30 minutes, a farmer in the country kills himself in despair because he no longer can provide for his family. The documentary film takes the viewers to a village at the centre of suicide crisis region in Vidarbha to explore what's behind the...

-The Hindu The District Administration of Yavatmal, Maharashtra, has declared 664 Gram Panchayat members from the district as “ineligible” on Tuesday “for failing to construct a toilet in their houses”. There are 1207 Gram Panchayats in Yavatmal district with 6,272 members. The membership of 664 Gram Panchayat members from different Gram Panchayats of Yavatmal district has been cancelled by the district administration for failing to construct a toilet at their houses within the...