-AlJazeera.com How rising debts, pesticides and erratic rainfall are pushing some farmers in southern India to suicide. Karnataka: Farmers have worked the land of southern India for more than 10,000 years, making use of its fertile soil and abundant rains. Mahatma Gandhi placed Indian farmers at the centre of his vision for independence. In his 1909 book about Hind Swaraj (Indian Home Rule), he argued that farmers had "managed with the same kind...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Despite the slow decline of the renowned handlooms of Dharmavaram in Andhra Pradesh, Shankara Dhanunjaya tried to work hard and prosper. But in 2016, at the age of 35, debts, crumbling dreams and crushing policy changes drove him to suicide All the handloom halls Into mortuary rooms Being metamorphosed That inexplicable sorrow! (From ‘Maggam bathuku’ an epic poem by Dr. U. Radheya, who is from a family of weavers; translated by Dr. P. Ramesh Narayana) In...

-The Tribune Rural Debt doubles to Rs 80,000 crore in 7 years | Most deaths reported in Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar Chandigarh: With the rural indebtedness in Punjab’s predominant agrarian economy touching Rs 80,000 crore, each rural household in the state is under a debt of an average Rs. 8 lakh. Or simply put, 89 per cent of the 10.53 lakh households in Punjab are under debt. This also shows how rural indebtedness in...

-Down to Earth Women farmers, whose contribution to agriculture is equal or sometimes even more than their husbands, are often ignored A study conducted in rural Tamil Nadu points out the appalling condition of women farmers, especially after the death of their husbands. Conducted in January by the Tamilnadu Federation for Women Farmers’ Rights in 13 villages across six state districts, the study reveals that a famine-like situation due to poor monsoon...

-Economic and Political Weekly Gian Singh (giansingh88@yahoo.com), Anupama (anupamauppal@yahoo. com) and Rupinder Kaur (rupinderkaur0076@gmail.com) teach economics at Punjabi University, Patiala; Gurinder Kaur (gurinder2005@yahoo.co.in) and Sukhvir Kaur (drsukhvir.sk@gmail.com) teach economics at Dashmesh Khalsa College, Zirakpur. The paper examines various hitherto unexplored aspects of indebtedness among farmers and agricultural labour households in rural Punjab. It analyses the extent and distribution of indebtedness among farmers and agricultural labourers, their sources of debt and the per...