-Down to Earth That explains why agrarian riots have increased by over 600 per cent in the last three years Whenever agriculture makes headlines, ironically, they hide more stories of distress. For sixth consecutive year, horticulture (fruits and vegetables) production has outstripped food grain production. Apparently, it is encouraging news given that farmers earn more from vegetables and fruits than food grains. But around the same time, reports of farmers dumping...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The ponds and wells dug under the rural job guarantee scheme have boosted farmers' income by an average 15 per cent, a study has found. The finding by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, appears to contradict charges that the scheme has lagged in asset creation and been largely a failure. According to the survey, farmers reported an 11 per cent rise in rice and wheat production and...

-Down to Earth Government reports say 2004-14 had the highest agriculture Growth that has fast slipped back to near-zero Growth despite normal monsoons and bumper yields The National Democratic Alliance government is scrambling to rescue the agriculture sector from a crisis never seen before. On January 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met over 100 economists in a first ever such interaction. Agriculture, rural economy and unemployment dominated the discussions. Modi’s promise of...

-The Hindu For millions hit by agricultural distress, the escape to construction jobs is grinding to a halt With the Union Budget to be presented on February 1, it is hoped that the Finance Minister will make a significantly higher allocation for investment in infrastructure. It is vital for addressing rural distress. The Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) informed us that ‘landlessness and dependence on manual casual labour for a livelihood...

-Newsclick.in   PM Modi - who promised to create 1 crore jobs - is supremely indifferent to this crushing crisis.   In Jind district of Haryana, 8 posts of peon and one post of process server were advertised. Authorities were inundated with 14,836 applications for the former and 3662 for the latter. That’s about 2055 applicants per vacancy. Although the peon’s position required just class 10 eligibility, graduates, post graduates and even PhD...