-The Telegraph Ranchi: Melinda Gates, co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, today went to Sondari village in Khunti, some 60km from Ranchi, asking village women how farming helped empower their lives. Around 10am, before they pushed off to their haats, fields or got bound to their family kitchens for the day, village women found Melinda in their midst. As the women spoke a mix of Mundari and Hindi and Melinda English,...
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Cash for Food--A Misplaced Idea -Dipa Sinha
-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...
More »Unseasonal rain: 601 farmer suicides in Maharashra in just 3 months -Priyanka Kakodkar
-The Times of India MUMBAI: As many as 601 farmers have killed themselves in Maharashtra in the three-month span between January and March this year. This works out to a chilling statistic of almost seven farmer suicides every day, according to the state government's own figures. In 2014, the state had reported 1,981 farmer suicides. In just three months this year, it has reached 30% of that figure. This despite the state...
More »Are Farmers Going to Be Modi’s Biggest Blind Spot? -Bhavdeep Kang
-GRISTMedia Narendra Modi declares his commitment to farmers all the time but his government has steadily acted against them. The political cost is going to be steep. From rail rokos and stone-pelting to urea trucks being looted, farmers across the country are increasingly ranged against the NDA government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi vehemently declares his commitment to farmers in all public forums, including his signature radio show and the social media. In...
More »India's powerful farming lobby turns on Modi
-AFP KANJHAWALA: Farmer Tarachand Mathur was one of millions of Indians who voted Narendra Modi into power last year, but the government's push to make it easier for big business to forcibly acquire land means he won't be backing the premier again. Mathur, 64, believes Modi has turned his back on the plight of farmers, many of whom have seen their crops devastated by unseasonal rains since the start of this year. "I...
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