Scores of farmers took part in a 'Kisan Swaraj Yatra', a rally, which began from Sabarmati in Gujarat and culminated at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Rajghat here on Saturday, to draw the attention of the government towards the issues concerning the farmers and the continuing agrarian crisis in India.The farmers and representatives of the 'Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture (ASHA)' later met Congress President Sonia Gandhi and briefed her about...

Chief minister Arjun Munda has urged bankers and financial institutions to join hands with the state administration to launch a water conservation campaign to prevent a third consecutive drought in Jharkhand next year.Addressing officials of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) today at a meet on the bank’s credit plan for 2011-12, Munda said recurrent droughts had upset the state’s economy. He admitted the farmers were going through...

Union minister of state for Agriculture, K V Thomas, today said Kerala, which had not fully utilised the allocation of Rs 700 crore under the Vidharba package, should utilise the remaning nearly rs 400 crore for Organic cultivation.About rs 400 crore was yet to be utilised and this could be made use for propagating organic cultivation in the the state, thomas said at the sidelines of a function here.The miniser...

Climate change is springing an unpleasant surprise on agriculture in India, catching both farmers and governments unprepared. The erratic and deficit rainfall pattern and rise in temperature in recent years has even forced farmers to change cropping patterns and several areas have been declared drought-hit.Agricultural scientists acknowledge that even a mere one degree increase in average day temperature would adversely impact production of both wheat and rice crops (total annual...

The Kisan Swaraj Yatra, a rally of farmers marching from Sabarmati in Gujarat to New Delhi, reached Jaipur on Thursday. Participants appealed to chief minister Ashok Gehlot to cancel the MoU that the state signed with Monsanto India Ltd, saying the agreement was anti-farmer. The Kheti Virasat Mission's Kavitha Kurunganti, who is among those leading the rally, claimed the government was surrendering famers' interests over seeds to profit-oriented multinational companies. The...