-Livemint.com Experts say a government-sponsored pledge loan scheme could still help Maharashtra tide over the tur crisis and provide relief to farmers Could Maharashtra government and the Centre have mitigated Maharashtra’s tur (pigeon pea) crisis by facilitating and encouraging pledge loans? Yes, say farm sector experts, bankers, warehouse industry officials and former government officials. Pledge loans are loans secured by farmers from banks against their farm produce deposited at a warehouse. Timely government intervention...

-The Indian Express On agriculture, three years into the Modi government, while many steps have been taken to realise promises made in 2014, others have fallen by the wayside With the Modi government completing three years in office, it is time to assess its performance in various sectors. We focus here on agriculture. Without robust growth in agriculture, “sabka saath, sabka vikas” will remain an empty slogan. There are two ways to evaluate...

-Frontline Low prices following a bumper crop and the State government’s inability to procure much of the yield leave tur farmers in Maharashtra in a quandary. DROUGHT or abundance, farmers seem to be perpetually doomed in Maharashtra. The most recent crisis unfolding in the agrarian segment is the crashing prices of pulses, particularly tur dal, and the inability of the State government to procure the entire crop. Adding to the problem...

-The Telegraph Jamshedpur: As water scarcity forces many urban residents to rely on tanker dole, a village around 35km southeast of Jamshedpur enjoys piped drinking water 24/7 thanks mainly to self-help. All 1,617 residents of over 300 households of Durku village in Kuldiha panchayat, Potka block, get safe tap water to drink. The reason behind it is surprising. Swajaldhara, a UPA-I drinking water scheme based on self-financing, which largely failed in the country...

-The Indian Express The fire had broken out on December 9, 2011. Police filed a case against 16 members of the hospital staff on several grounds of negligence; among the charges was culpable homicide not amounting to murder. Kolkata: OVER FIVE years since a fire killed 92 persons in Kolkata’s AMRI Hospital, families of the victims are worrying about how much longer the trial will drag, with just one of 452...