-Tehelka Agrarian policies are proving to be an albatross around the neck of ordinary farmers Amon Singh Kevat, 70, a small farmer in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, spent three long days in April waiting for his harvest to be picked up from an open plot that served as a mandi (procurement centre for agricultural produce). In need of money for a marriage in the family, Kevat didn’t even go home for meals. But...

-Business Standard Events after a farmer's suicide at an AAP rally encapsulate the state of public discourse on Indian agriculture The spectacle of political one-upmanship, blame, hyperbole (and even some Filmfare-worthy expressions of grief) triggered by the suicide of Gajendra Singh, a young man from Rajasthan at an Aam Aadmi Party rally in New Delhi, perfectly encapsulates the state of public discourse on Indian agriculture today. The discovery that his may not...

-The Indian Express As the toll of human misery and suicide mounts, official estimates of farm losses due to unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March remain controversial, with hasty downward revision. Since these estimates are largely notional, without validation from field visits, such revision smacks of deliberate fiddling. On March 24, the agriculture ministry reported that crops on 18 million hectares — about 30 per cent of the rabi crops —...

-Livemint.com Weather and prices continue to haunt modern agriculture and farmers, only 20% of who are covered by crop insurance in our country Two risks that have haunted modern agriculture for decades are weather and prices. Indian farmers have been one of the worst victims of the vagaries of nature and prices. They badly need protection, but less than 20% of them are covered by crop insurance. Insurance is an instrument...

-Business Standard When there is an enormous shortage of public hospitals, when state expenditure on health care is abysmally low by any international yardstick, tax money should be used to set up public hospitals Most relatively well-off Indians have got used to the idea of taking out medical insurance policies in order to take care of possible health episodes. It has been a rapidly growing business, doubling in four or five years....