-Livemint.com A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July in the state, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197, the most since 2003 Bengaluru: The farmer suicide rate in Karnataka has hit the highest level in a decade, highlighting agrarian distress in the state. A total of 158 farmers killed themselves in July alone in the state, government data showed, bringing this year’s toll of farmer suicides to 197,...

-The Hindu Honna Kiranagi GP takes up work on planting saplings KALABURAGI (Karnataka): The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) has come as a saviour for hundreds of agricultural labourers and small and marginal farmers in Honna Kiranagi village in Kalaburagi district. As farmers were not able to take up sowing for the kharif season owing to the failure of the south west monsoon this year, landless agricultural labourers and small...

-Livemint.com Change of definition behind fall rather than plan for bettering lot of poor farmers, improving agricultural economy New Delhi: Between 2013 and 2014, the number of farmer suicides halved. That’s what the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) which tracks farmer suicides would have us believe. It isn’t an improvement in India’s agricultural economy or a programme aimed at bettering the lot of poor farmers that has achieved this. Instead, it is a...

There is a class angle to farmers' suicide in India. Close to three-quarter of farmers who committed suicide in 2014 were small and marginal farmers. ‘Bankruptcy or indebtedness’ accounted for one-fifth of total farmers’ suicide during 2014. The report entitled Accidental Deaths & Suicides in India 2014 by the National Crime Records Bureau of Ministry of Home Affairs clarifies the doubt that indebtedness and bankruptcy were major causes of farmers' suicide,...

-The Times of India CHENNAI: It is an indication of the distress in the agriculture sector in the country. As many as 5,650 farmers, including 68 in Tamil Nadu, committed suicide last year, mainly due to bankruptcy or indebtedness, family problems and crop failure, said the latest report of the national crime records bureau. The premier central agency has correlated the data for the first time, amid outrage over growing incidents...