-The Times of India NAGPUR: As apprehended, the already distressed Vidarbha farmers are facing a severe cash crunch because of government apathy on three fronts. First, payments for tur and chana procured at MSP have been delayed. Then roll-out of loan waiver has been total mess and could not be completed a year after its announcement. Now, nationalized banks are reluctant to provide crop loans. With rains having arrived, farmers are running...

-The Tribune Agrarian society vs a non-agrarian economy poses a huge political challenge. JUST how many farmers are there in India? This is not merely a statistical question. This is a question of policy and political significance. We have all grown up reading about India as an agrarian economy, with a majority of its population engaged in farming. Does that continue to be the case? Or has the number of farmers declined...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org Imagine a democratic protest where a million farmers, labourers and others march to the capital and compel discussion of the exploding crisis of the countryside in a special three-week session of Parliament India’s agrarian crisis has gone beyond the agrarian. It’s a crisis of society. Maybe even a civilizational crisis, with perhaps the largest body of small farmers and labourers on earth fighting to save their livelihoods. The agrarian crisis is no...

-The Indian Express Two protesters had died in police firing at Bahi Parswanath and three outside Pipliyamandi Police Station on June 6. Bhopal: The judicial probe constituted after six deaths and violence during farmers’ agitation in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh, in June last year, has given a clean chit to the police and CRPF personnel and held that firing was absolutely necessary (“nitant awashyak”) and justified (“nyaysangat”). The J K Jain Commission report, submitted...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The 10-day farmers' strike in northern and western India ended on Sunday without any clear gains for the agitators or a significant impact on prices. During the " gaon bandh" agitation, the farmers had boycotted wholesale markets and tried to sell their produce directly. They were demanding a minimum support rice that would leave them with a 50 per cent profit and the waiver of farm loans. The Rashtriya...