Twenty years ago, a Maruti 800, with an air-conditioner fitted, cost a little less than Rs 2 lakh. Today it costs about Rs 2.5 lakh. Twenty years ago, a branded 1.5 tonne window air-conditioner cost about Rs 30,000; today, you can get a split AC unit for that price. Then, Videocon was offering large refrigerators for more than Rs 30,000; you can get better units today for much less. TV...

If dal roti went out of reach for the aam admi in 2009, vegetables and onion prices brought tears towards the end of 2010 and with food inflation touching a high of 14.44 per cent for the week ending December 18, the New Year did not ring in any respite from high food prices. The sudden increase of Rs.3 per litre in the price of petrol in December — the sixth...

Since the beginning of December last, 220 tenant farmers in the state have committed suicide or died of shock, crushed by mounting debts and loss of crops. Overall, the farmer death toll stands at a staggering 350-400. Though the fickle weather wreaked havoc, experts believe it's only partly to blame as several other factors have worked against the farming community. While economic expansion continues to bypass the farming community leaving...

Demanding waiver of farm loans of rain-hit farmers in Orissa and relaxation of paddy standard for procurement, the Congress on Sunday asked the Centre to form a monitoring committee to supervise utilisation of its assistance for the distressed farmers. The Centre should form a committee to monitor and supervise utilisation of its assistance for the farmers whose crops have been damaged due to untimely rains in Odisha, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee...

Distressed over the crop losses in the recent rains, seven more farmers died of shock in the state in the last 24 hours. While three farmers died in Guntur district, West Godavari, Krishna, Prakasam and Nalgonda districts accounted one death each. Thota Apparao died of shock at Rentapadu in Sattenpalle mandal, while Mukteshwar Rao died of cardiac arrest at Attota in Kollipara in Guntur. Hanumantha Rao collapsed in his field on...