-IPS News SUNDARBANS: November is the cruelest month for landless families in the Indian Sundarbans, the largest single block of tidal mangrove forest in the world lying primarily in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal. There is little agricultural wage-work to be found, and the village moneylender's loan remains unpaid, its interest mounting. The paddy harvest is a month away, pushing rice prices to an annual high. For those like Namita Bera,...
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Job scheme budget-cut plan sparks alarm -Basant Kumar Mohanty
-The Telegraph The finance ministry has decided to shave Rs 3,000 crore, or about nine per cent, off the rural job guarantee scheme's budget allocation, government sources told The Telegraph. The move comes at a time the NDA government has been trying to assuage the fears of the Opposition and social activists that it plans to dilute the programme, introduced by the UPA government. This year's budget allocation for the programme was Rs...
More »Why axe only MGNREGA? Mr Modi, we need to talk -Abhijit Banerjee
-The Hindustan Times One does not have to agree with his views to be intrigued by the possibilities opened up by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's emergence as communicator/harangue-master in chief. Public conversations about who we are and who we want to be are key to the vitality of our democracy, and leaders can seed those conversations when they speak out their own views. When I hear people in the Delhi metro...
More »Profit eludes rice farmers -Nalin Verma
-The Telegraph Bihar: Santosh Thakur, a middle-aged farmer from Karsi village in Dinara block of Rohtas district - famously known as the part of Bihar's rice bowl - is as hapless this kharif season as he has always been. He is forced to sell his paddy at Rs 950-1,000 per quintal to middlemen against the stipulated procurement price of Rs 1,360 per quintal. Why are you selling your produce at such a low...
More »Maharashtra records highest number of farmer suicides this year -Vishwa Mohan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Maharashtra continues to face the challenge of dealing with rising cases of farmers' suicide. It has reported 204 such suicides in the first four months of the year - which is nearly half of what the state had reported in the entire year in 2013. The Union agriculture ministry on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha of Maharashtra's dubious record followed by Telangana, Karnataka and Gujarat. Though...
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