According to the National Crime Records Bureau, since 2003, one Indian farmer has committed suicide every 30 minutes. In 2008, 16,196 farmers took their own lives, bringing the total number of farmer suicides in India between 1997 and 2008 to 199,132. (Significantly, P. Sainath is of the opinion that like all government data, these figures too are unreliable. For when women farmhands kill themselves, their deaths are not enlisted as...

Speakers at a State-level seminar here today vehemently opposed the proposal of the Orissa government to supply water from Hansua River in Jagatsinghpur district to proposed Posco steel plant at Paradip. Organized by Odisha Jala Surakhya Janamanch, the seminar was attended among others by hundreds of farmers from areas like Biridi, Raghunathpu, Tirtol, Erasama and Balikuda of the district. The Janamanch convener Chittaranjan Mohanty told the gathering that Hansua is...

A large number of cotton farmers from across Gujarat are expected to come to Rajkot on Friday to protest against the central government's cotton export policy. Maha Gujarat Agricotton Producer Company Limited (MGAPCL), a co-operative cotton marketing firm owned by farmers, has organised a farmers' gathering at Rajkot for protesting the government's stand on cotton export. This comes in the wake of the central government's decision to defer the commencement of cotton...

Describing the Food Security Bill as a "non-starter", the BJP today said food should be viewed as a fundamental right and the government should come up with the legislation in this regard at the earliest. The party also said the government should take measures for revamping of the public distribution system. Food security was one of the major agenda of the UPA government in 2009 but the bill is yet to see...

Tembhali, a remote village with a population of 1,552 in the Satpura range of tribal-dominated Nandurbar district, wears a festive look. It has undergone a total facelift with tarred roads, painted walls, banners and posters — largely of the ruling Congress party — and uninterrupted power supply. The reason for this makeover: the village will host the launch of the Centre’s much-vaunted Unique Identification programme, or Aadhaar, by Prime Minister Manmohan...