-Down to Earth Several thousand hectares of crops stand destroyed Even as a team of experts gears up to study the situation of droughts in Maharashtra, heavy unseasonal rains and hailstorms have damaged an estimated 88,000 hectares of standing crops and orchards in the last few days. Nashik, Jalgaon, Dhule, Nandurbar and Sangli are the worst-affected districts. In Nashik, 38,000 hectares of grape crops have been completely damaged. Subhash Arve, vice president of...

-Economic and Political Weekly   The High-Level Committee set up by the Narendra Modi government to review the major laws relating to environment protection has, in its recommendations, worked towards two sets of objectives: one, to separate business from the messiness of governance, and, two, to redraw the line of demarcation between the judiciary and the executive. Manju Menon (manjumenon@namati.org) and Kanchi Kohli (kanchikohli@namati.org) are with the Centre for Policy Research - Namati...

-PTI   Nagpur: The six Vidarbha districts, which are most prone to farmer suicides, will get priority in allocation of solar pumps to overcome the power crisis in the region, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Thursday. "The state government has decided to set up five lakh solar pumps (for irrigation purpose) in the first phase and necessary global tenders will be floated later this month. Farmers in the suicide-prone districts in...

-Down to Earth National Human Rights Commission has sought report from the state The K Chandrasekhar Rao government in Telangana seems to have failed to deliver on its promise of reforming the crisis-ridden farm sector in the state. Unofficial figures suggest that more than 400 farmers have committed suicide in the past six months. Telangana, the youngest state in the country, came into existence on June 2 this year. Rao and other leaders...

-IANS NAGPUR: A record 120 debt-ridden farmers are reported to have committed suicide in November in the drought-hit Vidarbha and Marathwada regions of Maharashtra, an activist said here Monday. "While at least 65 farmers ended their lives in Marathwada, another 55 took the extreme step in Vidarbha region," Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti president Kishore Tiwari said. In the past 24 hours alone, around two dozen farm folk have committed suicide, according to available...