-NDTV Gumla (Jharkhand): For a public hearing on the National Food Security Act in Jharkhand’s Gumla district, conducted by activists in the presence of government officials, 75-year-old Jasmati Lohrain walked over four kilometres in the searing heat. The hearing, attended by over 500 villagers in Gumla’s Bharno block, was her only chance to get government officials to hear about her problems. Ms Lohrain is a widow; her four sons died in a...
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In Bundelkhand, cattle deaths, hunger signal looming famine -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com With food and water in short supply, farmers in Bundelkhand are leaving cattle to fend for themselves Mahoba (Uttar Pradesh)/New Delhi: Some time in March, Dhan Prasad Anuragi led his pregnant cow Kajal a couple of miles outside his village and abandoned her. The 55-year-old farmer, who lives in Balchaur village of Mahoba district in Uttar Pradesh, says he had no choice. He couldn’t afford to feed the cow and his only hope...
More »Rs. 5 In A letter: Jharkhand's Unpaid Workers Return PM Modi's Wage Hike -Alok Pandey and Haribansh Sharma
-NDTV Latehar, Jharkhand: Over a hundred letters, Rs. 5 enclosed in each of them, addressed to the Prime Minister's Office in Delhi. The senders are the villagers in Jharkhand's Latehar, who say they could do without the Rs. 5 wage hike under MNREGA. In a season of drought, the Centre's increase of wages in Jharkhand -- from Rs. 162 to 167 a day - has added insult to injury, say the villagers....
More »A drought of action -Jean Drèze
-The Hindu India has a lasting infrastructure of public support that can, in principle, be expanded in drought years to provide relief. But business as usual seems to be the motto Droughts in India used to be times of frantic relief activity. Large-scale public works were organised, often employing more than 1,00,000 workers in a single district. Food distribution was arranged for destitute persons who were unable to work. Arrangements were also...
More »Activists, Academics Write Open Letter to PM Modi on the Drought
-TheWire.in According to the central government’s statement to the Supreme Court last week, a third of the India’s districts are currently facing a severe drought. This means that at least 33 crore Indians are affected by ongoing the crisis. Expressing their deep concern on the issue and the impact it is having on rural populations of the country, and asking that the government take appropriate relief measures immediately, more than 150 academics...
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