-The Hindu Hyderabad (Telengana): Cultivation of paddy in the ongoing rabi season in Telangana is expected to come down by about 20 to 25 per cent because of persisting power shortage and depletion of groundwater table in the State. The Agriculture Department in association with the power distribution companies is already running a publicity campaign in villages for over a month now discouraging paddy cultivation during the rabi season. Of the 13.09...

-The Business Standard Govt suppresses report recommending radical reforms to improve their socio-economic status as it goes against Centre's rapid industrialisation agenda The National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre has suppressed the report of the High-Level Committee on the Status of Tribals. The report presents a scathing analysis of how development activities and strategies in India have increased the socio-economic gulf between tribals and rest of the citizens of India and...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The Intelligence Bureau has termed loan waiver and relief packages for distressed farmers as "short-term" measures and said the issue of farmer suicides needs a comprehensive solution. In a report to the Prime Minister's Office last week, the IB said farmer suicide is on a rise in Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka and Punjab. It also pointed to suicides by debt-ridden farmers in Gujarat, UP and Tamil Nadu...

-Business Standard Surveys show 40% still get loans from non-institutional sources & at high rates A little over half of India's agricultural households were in debt, with 40 per cent of the dues from non-institutional lenders, during agricultural year 2012-13 (July to June), according to a official survey. This 'Situation assessment survey of agricultural households' showed 51.9 per cent of all agricultural households were indebted, with the average amount of unpaid dues being...

-Business Standard Farmers still struggling for access to govt schemes The 70th report on the "Situation of Agricultural Households in India", released by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on Saturday, reveals that much is wrong with Indian farmers' economic status, despite several programmes being run by the government to raise their incomes. Over half of all farm households are heavily indebted; 26 per cent of them owe money to moneylenders who...