-Press Information Bureau/ Ministry of Finance The Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley said that there is a need to conserve water, incentivize agro processing and promote balanced use of fertilizers in order to ensure higher agriculture productivity. The Finance Minister said that in order to achieve the goal of doubling the farmer’s income by 2022, there is need for better storage and marketing facilities for the...

-Livemint.com SIT probe report on deaths of 40 farmers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public during Maharashtra assembly’s winter session starting on 11 December Mumbai: The report of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) appointed by the Maharashtra government to investigate the deaths of cotton farmers and farm workers in Vidarbha during July-September will be made public only during the upcoming wintersession of the state legislature beginning 11 December in Nagpur,...

-Newsclick.in Agricultural output is stagnating, farmers’ debt and suicides are rising, 35% cultivators have abandoned farming – gujarat’s development model has betrayed farmers Here are some facts about the state of agriculture in Gujarat, often described by BJP as the crucible for ‘model’ governance and development:     Between 2001 and 2011, the number of cultivators in Gujarat fell by 355,181, the bulk of which was marginal cultivators (those who cultivate only up to...

-TheWire.in In 2016-17, pending payments under the employment scheme in the state amounted to a whopping Rs 5,571 crore. Tiravur, Tamil Nadu: “I could kill someone,” said Janaki Chinarasu in early June at her home in Tiruvarur, protecting her forehead from the heat with her hands askew. “It’s like the sun god has conspired with the rain god to punish us.” Chinarasu is a frail, strong-witted woman with a five-year-old on her lap...

-Livemint.com Farm activists, environmentalists spar with pesticide companies over cause of more than 40 deaths Mumbai: The deaths of over 40 farmers and farm workers in Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region since July has put the spotlight on the abuse of pesticides and lack of protection for those spraying them, even as a committee investigating the case prepares to submit its findings this week. A seven-member special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Maharashtra government...