West Bengal Minister for Agriculture Naren Dey on Monday denied that the suicide by a farmer in Bardhaman district recently was related to drought, even as another such incident was reported from a neighbouring village. “The reason for the suicide is not known. In the first case we found out that the person had committed suicide because of family problems. The police will conduct investigations in this case as well to...

Farmers in the state, already reeling from the impact of a drought that has stalked them for the last two years, now have to prove their “authenticity” to reap the benefits of a crop insurance policy they registered for in 2009. The near-impossible task of checking the veracity of each and every claim, which run into lakhs, will have to be completed before August 31 by the respective district administrations, delaying...

One of the most intriguing features of India's agrarian economy in recent years is the persistence of agrarian distress in many regions, even while agricultural credit flow has risen sharply. Rising flow of credit to agriculture is normally associated with buoyancy in the farm sector. A closer look at the data on agricultural credit reveals that what is termed agricultural credit may have very little to do with agriculture, the...

JHABUA, India — Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight. Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children have staggered into the hospital ward after falling...

Acting with determination and firm action, it should be possible for India to step up its agricultural growth rate to 10 per cent. The 11th Five Year Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent growth rate in agriculture by the end of the Plan period. The Planning Commission is working towards an overall 9 per cent to 10 per cent growth rate. But the target of 4 per cent growth rate is...