-The Hindustan Times Nalgonda/Warangal: Dasari Ramulu, 45, and Polaboyina Pochaiah, 35, are two of the 348 Telangana farmers, who committed suicide since June 2 when Telangana became a state. The reasons behind their decision are not unique - crop failures due to poor rains and a nonexistent irrigation system and debt burdens. The debt-to-death arithmetic is simple: Each attempt to get water through bore wells costs Rs. 1 lakh and cotton seeds...
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Bigger dams, irrigation projects won’t help save Maharashtra’s farmers -Ketaki Ghoge and Sayli Udas Mankikar
-The Hindustan Times Mumbai: In the past two decades, the National Crime Records Bureau has recorded 60,750 farmer suicides in the state. This means more than 3,000 farmers have killed themselves every year, reflecting a deepening agrarian crisis untouched by policies and subsidies doled out by the government. To get the state back on its feet, the new BJP government needs to start from agriculture and allied sectors. In the past...
More »Govt may downsize MGNREGA to boost scheme impact on the poor -Chetan Chauhan
-The Hindustan Times For fiscal prudence and better outcome of public expenditure, the Narendra Modi government is likely to downsize some of the social sector schemes, including the rural job guarantee programme, the biggest grosser of the central funds. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had allocated about Rs. 33,351 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) in his budget this July but many believe that the huge expenditure was not...
More »Dense smoke a common sight as paddy stubble burning continues despite ban -Neeraj Mohan
-The Hindustan Times Sangrur (Punjab): Notwithstanding the government's ban on burning of paddy stubble, the practice continues unabated, causing serious threat to human health and soil fertility. Respiratory issues and allergies are common complaints due to the burning of paddy stubble which leads to smog.Smoke from the burnt paddy stubble has covered the sky in most parts of the district, reducing visibility on highways and causing respiratory problems. Despite several steps taken by...
More »Govt may bring changes to land act in winter session of Parliament -Kumar Uttam
-The Hindustan Times To kick-start stalled development projects and remove investment bottlenecks, the government is expected to make changes to the land acquisition act during the winter session that opens on November 24. Dilution of the consent clause, restricting social impact assessment to large projects and giving states the powers to define "emergency" under "urgency clause" for acquiring land are some of the major amendments -- demanded by various states -- that...
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