-The Indian Express The country’s politics has ignored the farmers. Perhaps it is time they change the country’s politics Farmers in villages across the country have felt demeaned and disturbed by the insensitivity of successive governments at the Centre and in the states. The same anguish was felt by the agriculturists who walked more than 160 km from Nashik to Mumbai. The country’s politics has ignored farmers. Perhaps it is time that...

-The Hindu Business Line Eleven years since its inception, the State’s farmer’s debt relief commission has quietly eased the burden of debt on poor farmers, and grown to be a model worth emulating Earlier this week 35,000 debt-ridden farmers coursed through Maharashtra, walking 180 km on blistered soles, to converge at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding freedom from debt and fair compensation for their produce. As the government scrounged for solutions, it could’ve...

-Down to Earth Genetically modified food items are flooding Indian markets with seemingly no trouble at all Just last year the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) had told the Supreme Court that “GM (genetically modified) foods are not allowed in the country” and yet no action has been taken against the GM foods flooding Indian markets. The Coalition for a GM-free India has complained to the FSSAI with pictorial...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: A winter rain shortfall of 63% in January and February across India has led to reservoir levels dropping in the major river basins of the Sabarmati, Kaveri and Tapi. While agriculture ministry officials said this will not impact the rabi crop significantly, farmers in Gujarat--where water level in the Sardar Sarovar dam is below normal--are worried about cotton sowing. “In the current situation, there is deficient water...

-IANS Farmer suicides have been taking place across India for years now, and studies of rural distress reveal the deeply-rooted, tenacious causes, such as lack of irrigation, fragmentation of land, unsuitability of seeds and inadequate sources of credit. Despite the democratically-elected governments that claim to represent a country where over half the population is dependent on farming, agriculture has been consistently ignored at a steep cost to farmers' lives. Remedies have been...