-Livemint.com * At a time when rural incomes are sliding, the only existing safety net for the farmer is failing * High costs of reinsurance due to erratic weather, a spike in claims, political interference in crop loss estimation are reasons that forced some insurers to leave the business NEW DELHI: Santosh Kumar’s first brush with insurance left a bitter aftertaste. A farmer’s son, 26-year-old Kumar from Bihar’s Araria district felt betrayed when...
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NCRB data on farmers' suicides is out with key omission -- reasons -Deeptiman Tiwary
-The Indian Express The data shows that Maharashtra accounted for almost 40 per cent of all farmer suicides in the country in 2016. Karnataka (1,212) was second on the list but still recorded 50 per cent less farmers’ suicides than Maharashtra. After withholding data on incidents of lynchings, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released figures on farmers’ suicides but with a key element from the previous edition missing this...
More »Govt may pump more funds into NREGS to boost rural economy -Saubhadra Chatterji & Zia Haq
-Hindustan Times Many analysts have underlined that the BJP’s below-par performance in the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections reflected concern, among other factors, about the economy, which slumped to a growth rate of 6% in the three months to June 30, the slowest pace in over six years. The government has already spent nearly 80% of its full-year budget for the flagship rural job guarantee programme, top officials said on Friday,...
More »Consumption in rural India hits a 7-year low -Suneera Tandon
-Livemint.com * Farm Distress, stagnant incomes have eroded demand, shows Nielsen data * Consumption in rural areas grew at 5% in terms of value in the Sep quarter, while in urban India, the growth was 8% Rural household consumption slumped to a seven-year low in the September quarter, in a sign that the prolonged agrarian distress and near-stagnant rural incomes have eroded demand for consumer goods, market researcher Nielsen said. Consumption of packaged consumer...
More »Subhash Palekar, father of Zero Budget Natural Farming, interviewed by N Madhavan (The Hindu Business Line)
-The Hindu Business Line Speaking to BusinessLine at a farm on the outskirts of Aurangabad, Subhash Palekar, father of ZBNF, rebuts every criticism and allays every fear that have been raised The Modi government sees zero budget natural farming (ZBNF) as a solution to the farm crisis. The 2018-19 Economic Survey recommended it and so did the 2019 Union Budget. In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised many by asking farmers not...
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