-The Tribune Transformative approaches to agriculture are the need of the hour. For this, we have to impart climate resilience and rehabilitate economically stressed farming communities of agriculturally developed regions. Since more than two decades now, farmers have been committing suicides in India, a fact that reflects the harsh realities of farming. Most of these farmers were traditional family farmers, leading a lifestyle based on traditions and beliefs. The intensive commercial commodity-based...

-The Hindu Business Line Arrivals more than double at key markets as farmers resort to sell-off Ahmedabad: Potato farmers in Gujarat are a worried lot. With harvest being bumper and unseasonal rains affecting the quality, potato prices have come down to one-third of what it was last year. The first estimate, as on February 2015, puts the country’s potato output at around 421 lakh tonnes (lt) – about 6 lt higher than last...

-Hindustan Times Hamirpur/ Jalaun/ Banda: The dangerous sand mafia stops at nothing. It kills, runs over men in uniform, kidnaps and, in Uttar Pradesh, even molests and rapes. Its impunity stems from the fact, as an HT investigation found, that complaints lodged with police often remain confined to files. Shivpal Singh, gram pradhan of Bansariya village, testifies to the mafia’s dominance. “In March 2014, the musclemen of a kingpin sexually assaulted two women...

-The Hindu Business Line Bengaluru: A total of about Rs. 900 crore has been sanctioned by the Union Ministry of Urban Development and an amount of about Rs. 700 crore has been released to States/UTs based on proposals received under Swachh Bharat Mission during 2014-15. Implementation of the Mission is expected to pick up momentum from the current financial year onwards. Gujarat leads the states in implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission during 2014-15....

-Frontline Outcomes of the patterns of growth induced by neoliberal economic reforms have increased the disproportionality between agricultural and non-agricultural growth, and with costs rising and prices not keeping pace, agriculture is becoming increasingly unviable. FARMERS across northern and central India-in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and elsewhere-are distressed. Unseasonal rains have damaged their standing crop and help from the government has been meagre and slow in coming. This, however, is...