-Livemint.com A government report says nearly 11,500 of Maharashtra’s 40,000 villages face water scarcity due to a combination of less than normal rainfall and consequent exploitation of groundwater Mumbai: The Maharashtra government on Tuesday declared a ‘drought-like situation’ in 180 tehsils , more than half the 353 of these administrative units in the state, in an acknowledgement of looming agrarian distress. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said after a cabinet meeting that his government...

-Livemint.com Loan waivers and electricity subsidies are band-aids at best; a deeper transformation is needed The past few days have neatly summed up the scale and nature of the challenges facing India’s agriculture sector. First, the provisional agriculture census 2015-16 showed that landholdings have continued their decades-long trend of fragmentation, leading to a further rise in the proportion of small and marginal farmers. Then, 30,000 farmers, who had started their march from...

-The Hindu There is enough evidence to show that the government has failed farmers and agricultural labourers in a big way As the Lok Sabha debates the vote of no confidence today, representatives of farmers from across the country will be marching outside Parliament under the banner of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella body of 201 farmer organisations. Farmers have already passed a vote of no confidence against...

-The Hindu Business Line In view of the distortions arising out of excessive price support, direct income transfers to farmers is a better option The domestic debate has tended to conclude that the rise in MSP announced in the Budget is an essential part of achieving the government’s objective of doubling farm incomes. But MSP stands for minimum support prices and is an instrument designed for reducing income volatility, not for raising...

-Frontline.in The women-led climate-resilient farming model created by Swayam Shikshan Prayog in drought-hit Marathwada has yielded encouraging results and is worthy of emulation across the country. “LOOK at our quinoa. It has grown so well,” says a beaming Shailaja Narwade from Masia village near Solapur in interior Maharashtra. Shailaja has planted the traditional South American plant not for consumption but in order to harvest its seeds. “Quinoa seeds are very valuable...