-The Financial Express The fastest-growing major economy of the world cannot ignore its farmers as there is a genuine need to help the farming sector which is suffering from stress on account of indebtedness. The banking industry is also not able to extend credit to those farmers who are in default. A loan waiver can help bankers to renew the loans, and farmers can use the borrowed money for production of...

-MoneyControl.com As per data from 2011 to 2016, the agriculture loan NPAs stood between 4-6 percent while the industry NPAs have consistently increased sharply from nearly 3 percent to 12 percent in 2016. Despite criticism on farm loan waivers, a data study shows that the increase in non-performing assets (NPAs) is contributed more by the industry than the agriculture sector. According to a study report by Anand Rathi, in terms of contribution to...

-The Indian Express Agriculture cannot survive without them. But they are invisible in the current conversation on the agrarian crisis An ex-company executive-cum-economist turns to the anchor during a discussion on the farmers’ agitation. “Overpopulation is destroying the farming activity. There are simply too many mouths to feed and the farms are shrinking. We must look to the urban areas for creating new jobs,” he says. The man at the local paan...

-Livemint.com Crop insurance has failed to provide much-needed relief to farmers from destitution With one farmer committing suicide every half-an-hour, the number of farmers who have ended their lives as per official records in India is estimated at over 300,000 over the past two decades. These numbers do not include suicides by agricultural labourers, though they too are victims of the agrarian crisis. As each death affects at least the immediate family...

-TheWire.in While suicides and shock deaths have seen a sudden spike in Tamil Nadu’s Cauvery delta region, the government does not believe the drought is the cause and is continuing to direct water away from rural areas. From the banks of the Kollidam river, S. Selvaraju’s farm is barely a mile away. The huge river, actually a tributary of the Cauvery that drains its surplus water into the sea, runs along the village...