-The Times of India blog Dozens of farming groups determined to stall supply of fruits, vegetables and dairy products to major Indian cities is a clear indicator of growing rural discontent that the Modi government has been struggling to deal with for quite some time, amidst supply glut and depressed farm produce prices. Worried that unhappy farmers could cost BJP dearly in upcoming state and national elections, the government has promised to...
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Sugarcane crisis: Govt focuses on technology fixes, but not on mounting dues to farmers -Kundan Pandey
-Down to Earth While Sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh owe about Rs 12,500 crore to farmers, the government’s measures were directed mostly towards tackling current price crash In a knee-jerk reaction to the defeat in Kairana by-elections, the Narendra Modi government, on Wednesday, took a slew of policy decisions related to Sugarcane industry. The plight of Sugarcane farmers was a big issue during the recently concluded by-elections in this town in...
More »Farmers' organisations seek enactment of Freedom from Debt Bill, Guaranteed Fair and Remunerative Prices Bill -Joe C Mathew
-IndiaToday.in New Delhi: All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a coalition of 193 farmers' organisations from across the country, will lobby for the enactment of two private bills - Farmers' Freedom from Debt Bill and Guaranteed Fair and Remunerative Prices Bill - to ensure comprehensive debt relief to farmers and remunerative prices for the farm produce in the forthcoming session of the Parliament. The Bills, submitted by Parliamentarians Raju Shetti and...
More »A farmer death, and the story of a Baghpat mill -Sourav Roy Barman
-The Indian Express While mills are required, by law, to pay the SAP amount within 14 days of cane purchase, the Malakpur factory has till date disbursed a mere Rs 32 crore. That amounts to less than 7 per cent of what is due to its 34,000-odd farmers. Baghpat (U.P.): On the road to the Sugar mill in Malakpur, the number of flies first multiply, then quadruply. It’s late May and the...
More »A Sugar rush -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The result in the Kairana Lok Sabha seat bypoll, where ganna payment was the main issue, brought forth a crisis born of advances in plant breeding and boost in Sugarcane production. Not many would have heard of Bakshi Ram. Currently director of the Sugarcane Breeding Institute (SBI) at Coimbatore, he isn’t as well-known as Norman Borlaug or M S Swaminathan. Yet, the wonder Sugarcane variety, Co-0238, bred by...
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