-The Hindu India's small farmers have been struggling for centuries now and they need social and governmental action to change their future Of India's 121 million agricultural holdings, 99 million are with small and marginal farmers, with a land share of just 44 per cent and a farmer population share of 87 per cent. With multiple cropping prevalent, such farmers account for 70 per cent of all vegetables and 52 per cent...

-The Hindu They wabted the govt to table the proposed amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, in Parliament so that they can be "democratically" discussed. A group of concerned citizens has written to President Pranab Mukherjee to "rethink and reject" the Ordinance which seeks to amend the Land Acquisition Act of 2013. In a letter to the President, the group has urged him to advise the government to table the proposed amendments...

-The Indian Express Just a few years ago, the World Bank in its World Development Report claimed that migration from rural India to urban centres is "natural" and the same should not be interrupted or prevented through schemes like the MGNREGA. This was a shocking statement to all those who know why there is huge and ever-growing migration to cities, not only of the labour class but also of farmers and small...

-The Indian Express New Delhi: Vegetables are the noble folk of food world, loved equally by doctors and grandmothers. Vegetarians live off them and meat-eaters are told to live off them. But in Delhi, under every crunchy leaf of radish or the shiny brinjal hide dangerous amounts of pesticides that can slowly kill, shows a new study by JNU. Pritha Chatterjee and Aniruddha Ghosal report how growers, consumers and the authorities may...

-The Hindu Tirupur (Tamil Nadu): "Farming population has shrunk in the country by about 25 per cent since Independence and continues to dwindle at a steady pace. Farmers' suicides are still a concern. "To arrest the trend and save the farm sector, the farming community should be given adequate representation in the newly constituted NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog that replaced the Planning Commission". This is one of the...