-Outlook India In the fertile farmlands of Mandsaur, political allegiance still grows tall. As does farmers’ discontent and anger. Tractor-trolleys laden with sacks of mostly soybean form a serpentine queue outside the foodgrain mandi in Mandsaur. Farmers make their way inside in ones and twos, unpack the bags and unload their produce among  growing mounds of soybean in the wide mandi yard. A reasonably good monsoon has ensured a bountiful harvest for...

-The Indian Express Apart from the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the BJP is also counting on the Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana (BBY), to neutralise rural anger ahead of the elections. Dewas, Ujjain: After the violent protests of June 2017 and unremunerative prices for most crops in the last one and a half years, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has one trump card — a Rs 5,000 crore-plus insurance payout...

-Livemint.com Ecologist Madhav Gadgil, whose report on Western Ghats was rejected by the Kerala government, on what caused the Kerala floods and how the rebuilding process should be carried out Ernakulam (Kerala): Submitted seven years ago on 31 August 2011, ecologist Madhav Gadgil’s report on the biodiverse Western Ghats—a portion of which falls in Kerala—had warned that the combination of massive ecological destruction and extreme weather events trigger disaster. His words proved...

-The Indian Express Raising procurement prices of kharif crops will only give false hope to farmers. Has the winter of farmers’ discontent turned into a glorious summer by the significant hike in minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops announced two weeks ago? The hike is unlikely to stem the rural unrest that is gnawing into the ruling alliance’s votebank. The PM has had to personally defend the government’s programmes that have...

-The Tribune Hoshiarpur: Progressive farmer of backward Kandi area of Hoshiarpur district, Parlad Singh from Namolihar village, has become a role model for others by adopting organic farming. Beginning in 1998 with the cultivation of his 7 acres of ancestral land, he is now successfully practising diversified organic farming. He has been earning a much greater deal as compared to traditional wheat-paddy farming. Parlad said starting with his 7 acres of ancestral...