-Livemint.com * At a time when rural incomes are sliding, the only existing safety net for the farmer is failing * High costs of reinsurance due to erratic weather, a spike in claims, political interference in crop loss estimation are reasons that forced some insurers to leave the business NEW DELHI: Santosh Kumar’s first brush with insurance left a bitter aftertaste. A farmer’s son, 26-year-old Kumar from Bihar’s Araria district felt betrayed when...

-The Indian Express In Idukki and Wayanad districts, where the situation is more severe, the loans availed up to August 31, 2018, are being considered by the commission for debt relief and in other districts it is March 31, 2014. Thiruvananthapuram: Around 40,000 marginal farmers in Kerala have approached the State Agricultural Debt Relief Commission in the last five months, seeking a waiver of loans they have taken from cooperative banks,...

-The Indian Express The data shows that Maharashtra accounted for almost 40 per cent of all farmer suicides in the country in 2016. Karnataka (1,212) was second on the list but still recorded 50 per cent less farmers’ suicides than Maharashtra. After withholding data on incidents of lynchings, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released figures on farmers’ suicides but with a key element from the previous edition missing this...

-Hindustan Times Studies show that natural disasters tend to lower life expectancy more in women than in men. The recent Bihar floods and flood alert warnings in Kerala are just the latest in a long line of natural disasters that periodically strike in India, leaving behind a trail of devastation. The focus afterwards is on assessing the loss of lives and economic cost and, of course, rehabilitation. But though it is...

-Livemint.com * A field report from the agriculturally prosperous heartland reveals a lacklustre festival of lights * Delay in farm loan waivers has worsened farmers’ credit score. So, financiers are unwilling to advance new loans to them for buying farm equipment SRI GANGANAGAR: "How are you going to celebrate Diwali?" My question gets Roopa Ram, an elderly farmer, so amused that he thinks it’s important to do some explaining to a reporter from...