-Reuters Cotton farmer Ravindra Krishna Patil in Maharashtra should be feeling flush after strong monsoon rains and a good crop, but high costs have cast a pall over his preparations for the festive season. Instead of splashing out on gold jewellery, appliances or maybe even a car during the biggest shopping season of the year, 28-year-old Patil must count his rupees after costs of everything from fuel to labour soared while cotton...

-DNA   Shetkari Sanghatana (SS), along with Prahar and Kisan Mitra, has organised a rally from Amravati to chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s native place, Kumbhargaon in Satara district, to voice the demands of farmers in the state. The rally will start on October 23 and reach Kumbhargaon on October 27. The campaign aims to awaken the state government to the deteriorating status of farmers in Maharashtra, pressurise it to fulfill the demands of...

-The Economic Times   The Prime Minister's Office has asked the department of agriculture to focus on ushering in the next phase of reforms by achieving self-sufficiency in key crops and ensuring creation of farm infrastructure. A review meeting of the agriculture sector, chaired by the Prime Minister's principal secretary, TKA Nair, has suggested specific measures to boost production, especially that of oilseeds and pulses, a government official said. The PMO asked...

PMO suggests adopting cluster approach to boost food output; FCI asked to enhance storage capacity With the National Food Security Bill set to be introduced in Parliament, the Congress party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has taken initiatives to boost the farm sector, including steps to increase the production of pulses and oilseeds. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), after a meeting on Tuesday to review the agriculture sector, has asked the agriculture...

The Gandhian movement Ekta Parishad plans to organise a march for land rights in October 2012 in India, aiming to gather around 100,000 indigenous people, dalits and poor peasants. Support is shaping up around the world, at events such as an international mobilisation conference in Geneva Sep. 12-13. "In India, a large number of adivasi (indigenous people) are pushed out of their land because of mining, huge dams, wildlife protection, industrialisation...