-The Hindu Amidst the din over the land acquisition bill in Parliament, the farmer’s voice was missing. Everybody has an opinion on farmers these days. Be it politicians, policymakers, editors or economists. In fact, ever since the Parliament reconvened for the Budget session on April 20, the deteriorating condition of farmers has clearly dominated discussions. But even as the issue of agrarian crisis, farmer suicides (especially after Gajendra Singh’s suicide in a...

-ANI Greening the barren land in Jharkhand and West Bengal Deoghar: Standing amid the road in Kasuadi village in Jharkhand, Deevani Mahato looks intently towards the contrasting landscape stretching across on both sides of the road. Wet green fields of wheat, mustard and grams, separated by the bunds of mud, cover the land on one side. Barren tracts of red soil full of dry bushes and stones stretch on the other. "By next...

-The Hindu "At least 50 deaths of farmers either by suicide or cardiac arrest have been reported and government has done nothing about it." Brown, damaged wheat fields is all one gets to see in Sonepat district of Haryana. In at least six villages The Hindu surveyed, deaths of farmers, either by suicide or cardiac arrest, have occurred following the shock of crop loss due to unseasonal rain. Yet, last week in...

-The Hindu Everything else can wait but agriculture cannot, said Jawaharlal Nehru. This should have been the talisman for India’s progress. Yet, successive governments have failed to accord agriculture the priority it deserves. The tragic suicide of a farmer during an Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi has brought to the fore the agrarian crisis facing India. Official records reveal that more than 2.96 lakh farmers have ended their lives...

-DNA Maharashtra: The consistently untimely rainfall has disturbed the crop sowing pattern in Maharashtra, and farmers are clueless what to sow now. The distress has led to a rise in farmer suicides in the state. Kailash Patil, cotton growing farmer from Jalgaon, told dna, "We received rainfall throughout this year. We were trained to cultivate crops as kharif (monsoon – June and July) and rabi (winter crop). Through most of both the seasons,...