-TheWire.in Farmers are once again wondering which crop will fetch them guaranteed good returns. Nagpur: What do you grow on your farm in the coming season that will fetch you good returns? This is a question millions of peasant farmers, particularly those with small holdings and no protective irrigation, are likely to ask themselves this month, possibly with no answers. They’ll go back to what they have been growing on their fields thus far,...

-The Telegraph Nagpur: A special investigation team will probe the alleged harassment of poor women borrowers in Maharashtra by loan recovery agents of micro-finance institutions, the state government announced today after month-long street protests and an Assembly debate. Junior home minister Deepak Kesarkar assured an agitated Assembly that the state was considering a law similar to one Andhra Pradesh had enacted in 2011 to regulate the MFIs' lending and loan recovery practices. About...

-TheWire.in Farmers in Vidarbha are being forced to incur terrible losses – by accepting lower prices, losing their perishable produce, or due to a fear of depositing cash payments in old notes in banks where they owe loan repayments. Bandu Ghormade had no choice but to accept the old Rs 500 notes from the procurement agent and a lower price of Rs 200 less for every 40 kilo crate of his freshly...

-The Telegraph Nagpur: Delhi Metro architect E. Sreedharan has suggested that investments in upgrading existing railway systems should take priority over high-speed bullet trains the Centre aims to roll out, his comments coming days before the rail budget. "Eventually, we must go for bullet trains but this is not the right time to invest in that system," Sreedharan, referred to as the "Metro Man" for his role in building the network in...

-The Telegraph Nagpur: Maharashtra's BJP-led government has put on hold confined field trials for genetically modified (GM) crops "until all doubts are cleared", following "objections from reputed members of society" including RSS affiliate Swadeshi Jagran Manch. No time bar has been specified for the restrictions, which come days before the onset of the monsoon and the start of the sowing season. The state agriculture department wrote to private and public sector companies on...