India needs sustainable political and governance reform, not 'Mr India'-type prime-time populism Anna Hazare got his timing right, as Kumar Ketkar, a distinguished journalist from Mumbai, put it. Considering this was obviously planned as a television-based mobilisation of middle-class India, pitching it between the cricket World Cup and the Indian Premier League series was perfect timing. Even as Mr Hazare fasted, a large number of his supporters joined him between meals,...

After the sanctioning of education loans, the public and private sector commercial bankers have shown almost no interest in sanctioning farm loans this year. The farmers in Madhya Pradesh continue to face financial strain and have stayed away from bankers. But the bankers consider last year’s debt waiver scheme being responsible for the low agri credit flow. While state-owned cooperative bankers moved ahead in sanctioning and disbursing priority sector advances, private...

The budget is more concerned about the consumer than the grower A LOOMING food crisis in the world and high food inflation rates at home made Pranab Mukherjee’s proposals to boost agriculture in his 2011 budget more keenly watched than usual. These are factors that clearly weighed with the finance minister who repeatedly said that his principal concern this year has been the continuing high food prices. The squeeze on the...

Governments rarely shy away from showering farm sops but Karnataka’s BJP government hopes to reap gains with a debatable claim: that its policies have helped reduce Farmer Suicides. State agriculture minister Umesh Katti recently reeled off in the Assembly suicide figures (see chart) that show a declining trend since 2008-09, when the B.S. Yeddyurappa cabinet took power. The assertion that the slide is because of the government’s efforts follows an agriculture...

Sainath cautions West Bengal that it is in a very fragile situation ‘Eastern India fares better in agrarian crisis compared to Western States' Warns against following practices of corporate-led agriculture Even though West Bengal is one of the only three States in the country that has seen a decline in the rates of Farmer Suicides over the last 15 years, the situation in the State as in the rest of the country is...