-The Indian Express The problem is particularly pronounced in Bardhaman district — known as the rice bowl of Bengal. Kolkata: West Bengal’s agriculture department has estimated that 35 per cent of the monsoon paddy might go waste if not harvested in time, an exercise that has been badly hit with farmers lacking the cash to pay for labour. The estimate is part of an agriculture department report, commissioned to assess the impact...
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Where a long line of farmers did not wait for elections -Soumya Das
-The Hindu Many debt-ridden farmers in Bardhaman district have committed suicide. Bardhaman (West Bengal): “What is the use of voting? Elections will come and go but our lives will continue to be miserable,” said Parbati Let of Jamalpur in Bardhaman district of West Bengal. About a year ago, her husband, Atul Let (43), a potato farmer, committed suicide by consuming pesticide as he was unable to repay a loan of Rs. 50,000...
More »For bargadars, land is now labour lost -Smita Gupta
-The Hindu A systematic attempt is being made in several West Bengal districts to evict sharecroppers from land, despite the legal protection West Medinipur: At Jamirarah village, Srikanta Hansda points to two double-storey houses in the shadow of which his home — a rough mud dwelling with an asbestos clerestory roof — squats: “Those are the homes of the Ghosh family. They own Annapurna Bhandar, a well-known grocery store in Medinipur city...
More »Mamata Banerjee attacks PM Narendra Modi for ‘dissolving’ the Planning Commission -Madhuparna Das
-The Economic Times KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee while welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' initiative, attacked the government for 'dissolving' the Planning Commission, which she alleged, has affected the federal structure of the nation. "Earlier, there was at least a Planning Commission. The chief ministers had a platform to voice their views and worries. But now where should we go and speak about such issues?" she said. Even though...
More »Agriculture can be highly profitable, but the gains are not easy to sustain -Vivian Fernandes
-FirstPost.com Travelling across the country for the past five months to bring farmers’ voices to urban audiences through a programme called ‘Smart Agriculture’ - to be broadcast every Saturday and Sunday from 25 July on CNN-IBN - we have learnt that agriculture is not a low-profit activity. In fact, it returns more than double the amount of cash invested. Sandipan Suman, a 47 year-old agricultural sciences graduate and maize grower in Bihar’s...
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