-Newsclick.in An explosive farming crisis and sustained protests over the past two years have converged in the historic march by 50,000 farmers to Mumbai. Over the past six days, India has slowly woken up to farmers’ distress – and their resistance. On 6 March, about 20,000 farmers from various parts of the state mobilized by the CPI (M) affiliated All India Kisan Sabha gathered at Nashik in north-western Maharashtra to begin a...

-The Hindu Rather than just increased budgetary outlays, farmers need plans that will rescue them from crop failure Similar to the last two Budgets, this year’s pro-agriculture intentions are palpable through increased outlays to the agricultural sector and initiation of various programmes. They seem impressive, but closer scrutiny shows that the measures may be of little help to stem the tide of agrarian distress. There are some real challenges confronting three...

-Hindustan Times Under DBT system, beneficiaries are required to collect food subsidy in cash from their bank and then buy food grain from local ration shops at market price Septuagenarian Deventi Devi visited her bank, 6km from her village, thrice this month to withdraw her food subsidy credited by the government in her account under the Centre’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme. She returned empty-handed each time because the bank said the...

-The Hindu Five years after the first canteen came up, the future of the pet project of the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hangs in balance due to reports of fall in patronage and mounting losses borne by civic bodies. Budgetary support and operational reforms may be necessary for a course correction Sekar. D was observing this newspaper’s team of reporters as he sat cross-legged on the tiled floor. Then, he abandoned his...

-The Indian Express Whether it is the Budget, the Swaminathan formula or the BJP manifesto, none of them has quite defined what really constitutes “cost of production”. And therein lies the nub. The Union Budget for 2018-19 has promised to fix minimum support prices (MSP) for crops to guarantee farmers at least 50 per cent returns on production costs. This is quite similar to the original recommendation of the M S Swaminathan-headed...