-The Tribune Muktsar: Harbrinder Singh Gill, a farmer from Tarmala village of the Malout subdivision here, claims to have found an indigenous way to tackle stubble burning and sowing wheat using a pocket-friendly machine. Even officials of the Agriculture Department visited and inspected his fields and were satisfied with his creation. Harbrinder claimed that he had sown wheat crop on 38 acres by using his machine, which he invented four years ago....

-The Indian Express A Basic Income Scheme for the farmer will not tax the government’s resources. But it could stem the tide of distress in the countryside. The neglect of Indian agriculture by the NDA government, despite the tall promises in the BJP election manifesto of 2014 has been the cause of untold suffering of the Indian farmer over the last four years. This has led to large-scale farmers suicides and...

-The Indian Express For governments both at the Centre and in the concerned states, the most sensible option is to act fast. After two years of relatively good rains, large parts of Maharashtra (especially the Marathwada region and the adjoining districts of Jalgaon, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Sholapur, Amravati and Yavatmal), North Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch and North Karnataka are reeling under drought. What is different this time is that it has been induced...

-Hindustan Times This climate impact on agriculture is a cause for worry: the sector accounts for a large share in gross domestic product (16%) and employment (49%). Poor agricultural performance can lead to high inflation, rural distress, and political restiveness, as recent rural agitations and farmer suicides have shown. An annual review by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), a wing of the agriculture ministry, has said that crops, plantations...

-The Times of India JALANDHAR: Punjab farmers have started sowing wheat as paddy harvesting enters the last stage with just one-fifth of the crop left to be cut in fields. Paddy stubble management, however, continues to be vexatious issue, both for the farmers and the state administration. The lack of gap between harvesting paddy and sowing wheat and increased time and high cost of operating subsidised straw management machines have left farmers...