-The Hindu Business Line Eleven years since its inception, the State’s farmer’s debt relief commission has quietly eased the burden of debt on poor farmers, and grown to be a model worth emulating Earlier this week 35,000 debt-ridden farmers coursed through Maharashtra, walking 180 km on blistered soles, to converge at Mumbai’s Azad Maidan demanding freedom from debt and fair compensation for their produce. As the government scrounged for solutions, it could’ve...

-IANS Farmer suicides have been taking place across India for years now, and studies of rural diStress reveal the deeply-rooted, tenacious causes, such as lack of irrigation, fragmentation of land, unsuitability of seeds and inadequate sources of credit. Despite the democratically-elected governments that claim to represent a country where over half the population is dependent on farming, agriculture has been consistently ignored at a steep cost to farmers' lives. Remedies have been...

-Livemint.com Payment to cane growers is considered ‘due’ when it is delayed by more than 14 days after supplying raw cane to a mill New Delhi: Following higher sugar production and plummeting wholesale prices, dues to sugarcane farmers from mills are piling up, shows latest numbers. According to the Indian Sugar Mills Association (ISMA), till January end, sugar mills across various states owed farmers Rs13,932 crore. Payment to cane growers is considered ‘due’...

-The Hindu Business Line Bankers call for a coordinated approach to deal with the Stressed loans issue New Delhi: The RBI’s revised framework for Stressed loans may prove to be disastrous and seems ill timed for an economy that is just recovering from twin policy blows of demonetisation and GST implementation. Though there are long-term benefits of administering such a bitter pill, the short-term risks are significant, say bankers. “This (revised NPA framework) is...

-The Hindu Five years after the first canteen came up, the future of the pet project of the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hangs in balance due to reports of fall in patronage and mounting losses borne by civic bodies. Budgetary support and operational reforms may be necessary for a course correction Sekar. D was observing this newspaper’s team of reporters as he sat cross-legged on the tiled floor. Then, he abandoned his...