-Financial Express With elections approaching, every party is swearing by farmers and trying to woo them for their votes. The Modi government has already announced a package of Rs 75,000 crore for about 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. While in absolute terms it looks sizeable, when it is divided by the number of farm families to be covered, it is miniscule—just `6,000 per family per year, which is about 6%...

-Hindustan Times Previous attempts to study 18th and 19th century droughts have been limited to meteorological droughts caused by failure of rains A study that reconstructed droughts and famines across India over the last 146 years says lack of moisture in the soil for extended periods of time can be linked to some of the most devastating famines. Previous attempts to study 18th and 19th century droughts have been limited to meteorological droughts...

-The Hindu Important bills were passed; but going forward there must be debate on the anti-defection law The 16th Lok Sabha had its final sitting last Wednesday, marking an end to a disappointing five-year period. This Lok Sabha was surpassed only by the preceding one in terms of the low number of hours it worked. It met for 1,615 hours, 40% lower than all full-term Parliaments. This shows a decline in the...

-The Indian Express All the farmers who faced criminal action for defaulting on loans say they were made to sign on blank cheques. “If you write about our plight, will the government stop banks from sending us to jail?,” asks Ujagar Singh. The 60-year-old from Jhumba village in Bathinda district is among scores of Punjab farmers who have been convicted or are facing trial in criminal cases of cheque-bouncing filed by banks...

-The Hindu Business Line Tech must be used in a big way to ensure ryots get compensated quickly, says National Insurance Academy’s Srinivasan Changing rainfall patterns, droughts, flooding and geographical redistribution of pests and diseases have posed a major challenge before Indian agriculture. With the impact of climate change looming large on agricultural productivity, the insurance sector has a big role to play. However, the implementation of crop insurance scheme is mired...