-The Times of India AKOLA: For the last 23 years, Rukhmabai Rathod had run her 6-acre farm virtually single-handedly. After her husband's death in 1992, the uneducated but determined woman took charge. She decided what to sow, how much to spend and stood her ground with banks and creditors. "She was anguthachaap but she understood everything," says her brother-in-law Babulal Rathod from the Kazadeshwar village in Vidarbha's Akola district. "I didn't think...

-The New Indian Express KOTTAYAM: There is a sharp decline in money-borrowing from local money lenders and private lending institutions in Ernakulam since the commencement of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), says a study conducted by the School of International Relations and Politics (SIRP) at the Mahatma Gandhi University here. The MGNREG scheme has made headway in Ernakulam district, stresses the Impact Assessment Study conducted by the SIRP...

-The Tribune Grains Of Discontent: The damage to wheat crop due to untimely rain and hailstorm, followed by delayed payments, this rabi season has further stressed Punjab’s farmers. While the cost of farm inputs has risen manifold over the past few years, the profit margin is on a constant decline, thus making farming unviable. Unable to bear losses, several farmers have committed suicide in recent past As the day breaks, he enters...

-Livemint.com Increase in calorie consumption in rural and urban areas has surprised sceptics who doubted the sharpest fall in poverty seen in the last decade since the 1980s A long-standing puzzle in the Indian context has been the steady decline in calorie intake over the years despite economic progress. Many have argued that the decline in calorie consumption as seen from the surveys of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) is evidence...

-The Indian Express While tractor sales trebled during FY04-14, the last year saw a reversal in the trend with the agri industry facing multiple issues. If there is one indicator capturing the changes that took place in rural India over the past decade, along with the emerging signs of distress in the last year, it is the sales of tractors. Between 2003-04 and 2013-14, domestic tractor sales more than trebled from under...