West Bengal Minister for Agriculture Naren Dey on Monday denied that the Suicide by a farmer in Bardhaman district recently was related to drought, even as another such incident was reported from a neighbouring village. “The reason for the Suicide is not known. In the first case we found out that the person had committed Suicide because of family problems. The police will conduct investigations in this case as well to...

Two more tribal women have been stripped and forced to parade naked in front of large crowds in the Indian state of West Bengal, police say. The incidents were in the same area - the Birbhum district - where a similar case took place four months ago. Locals say that the women were being punished for "having close relations" with men from other communities. Birbhum police spokesman Humayun Kabir told the BBC that...

A group of farmers in Vidarbha region held protests against Aamir Khan's Peepli Live which according to them was an attempt to belittle the cause of farmers in the region that has witnessed a number of Suicides in the past. On the occasion of Independence Day, farm widows and farmers took to the streets in Yavatmal, which was the epicentre of Vidarbha farmers Suicides, about 160 km near Nagpur in...

The disastrous effect of the state throwing up its hands and retreating is most starkly visible in agriculture . Remember: agriculture involves 70 per cent of the country's population , generates about 56 per cent of national income, 64 per cent of total expenditure and about one third of total savings. So, any neglect translates into gigantic costs. And the central crisis in agriculture — production barely matching a depressed...

One of the most intriguing features of India's agrarian economy in recent years is the persistence of agrarian distress in many regions, even while agricultural credit flow has risen sharply. Rising flow of credit to agriculture is normally associated with buoyancy in the farm sector. A closer look at the data on agricultural credit reveals that what is termed agricultural credit may have very little to do with agriculture, the...