-The Telegraph   A farmer in his mid-thirties killed himself in a Burdwan village early this morning, a mountain of debt driving him under after he was apparently forced to sell paddy to middlemen at a lower price. Tapas Majhi’s suicide comes at a time three Bengal agencies tasked with procuring paddy directly from farmers and mill owners have been able to meet just 10 per cent of their target because of lack...

Downplaying the impact of drought in three states on national food production, agriculture and cooperation secretary Prabeer Kumar Basu says the number of people dependent on agriculture has to come down for rural incomes to rise.  "We have sent our team for an assessment of the situation. None of this will affect overall production because it will be compensated by the rest of India where crop conditions are excellent. We will...

To banish hunger and malnutrition from the country, Parliament is likely to pass the National Food Security Bill (NFSB). In our earlier article on this issue, Can we Afford Rs 6-Lakh-Cr Food Subsidy Bill in 3 Yrs? (ET, December 17, 2011), we concentrated on the likely financial implication that we estimated at roughly Rs 6,00,000 crore over a period of three years. In this piece, we address the operational challenges...

Agrarian distress and growing awareness among farmers, tired of poll-time rhetoric and freebies, may make it tougher for political parties to woo this large electorate with worn-out promises in the upcoming assembly polls.  Ahead of elections in five states, including in Uttar Pradesh, the country's most populous and politically-critical state, many farmers say they are ready to pay market rates for power and other inputs provided there is reliable supply.  Swarn Singh,...

-The Hindu   One lakh LIG/EWS housing units to be ready in three years Delhi Development Authority vice-chairman G. S. Patnaik on Tuesday reaffirmed the Authority's intention to deliver one lakh housing units for low-income and economically weaker sections of society within three years. He said construction of 20,040 EWS houses using prefab-technology was progressing and he expected to deliver 8,000 of these units in 2012. Mr. Patnaik said that 12,000 demand letters were...