-Economic and Political Weekly Farmer suicides are an unfortunate result of the agrarian distress plaguing the rural economy of many states of the country. Marathwada and Vidarbha regions in Maharashtra have recorded very high numbers of farmer suicides, and an attempt to calculate the number of suicides and the suicide mortality rate is the first step towards gaining an in-depth understanding of the prevalence and seriousness of the issue. An analysis...

-Newsclick.in At least 45 farmers have killed themselves since the lockdown began, said farmers’ body Rythu Swarajya Vedika. About 70% of farmers who committed suicides during the lockdown period in the last two months are tenant farmers cultivating crops in 5 to 20 acres of agricultural land, a study conducted by Telugu daily Eenadu has revealed. Besides difficulties related to crop procurement, the study found that loss of crops, financial distress related...

-Livemint.com Thankfully, India is enjoying a demographic dividend that gives it greater leeway for deficit-financing The dominant consensus on the slowdown in India is that we have a demand problem. Lack of aggregate demand is a phrase that goes back to John Maynard Keynes. He is a ghost who reappears from time to time, however much one tries to bury him. Regardless of whether you are a Keynes devotee or not, his...

-The Hindu Business Line Huge losses on procured grains and rising debt are a big concern FCI (Food Corporation of India) is sitting on a mountain of wheat and paddy. In January, the total stock of rice and wheat with FCI was 45.4 million tonnes. This increased to 46.3 million tonnes by April and touched 62.2 million tonnes in May. In July, the stock increased further to 74.2 million which was significantly...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...