-The Hindu Kalyanrao Jalji has cultivated carom seeds in drought-prone Chittapur taluk of Kalaburagi district Karnataka: When disturbing stories of agrarian crisis caused by drought were coming from across the State, Kalyanrao Jalji, a progressive farmer from Gotur village in drought-prone Chittapur taluk in Kalaburagi district, was making handsome profit. Cultivation of carom seeds (ajwain), a spice widely used in Indian kitchens for preparing delicacies as well as in pharmaceutical companies for...

-The Financial Express In Madhya Pradesh’s tribal districts of Dewas and Khargone, the NGO, Samaj Pragati Sahayog, discourages cash transactions for agricultural inputs. The interest rates are usurious and vary according to commodities. For fertiliser, it is dheda—loan for the stuff has to be repaid 1.5 times over by the end of the harvest season. For pesticides it is sawa, or 1.25 times. Even barter can be extortionate. One quintal of...

-TheWire.in Out of the 144 recorded farmer suicides, over 40 were from outside the Cauvery delta region. Observers and farmers directly attribute demonetisation as one major factor behind the suicides. Tamil Nadu is facing one of its worst agrarian crises since independence. All of the state’s 32 districts have been officially declared as ‘drought-affected’.  In a statement issued on January 10, chief minister O. Panneerselvam announced that the move was necessitated following...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru: Farmers in Karnataka, like their counterparts in other states who have been impacted by the drop in prices and cash shortage triggered by demonetisation, have another problem to contend with — crop loss on account of the failure of rains. It has been a kind of a triple whammy for farmers in the region. Besides being forced to reap a lower kharif output on account of a...

-Livemint.com The impact of demonetisation on the organized sector creates a visible effect. The suffering of Bharat is diffused, invisible, but hugely more painful ‘Why doesn’t the informal sector, supposedly badly hit by demonetisation, protest or scream in pain?’. Defenders of demonetisation often pose this question. The question assumes that the suffering poor people face because of government policies always finds political expression. If you want an answer to the question, please...