-The Indian Express Core committee plans to start agitation from August 14 Mumbai: The Maharashtra government said Monday almost 70 lakh farmers out of the total 1.36 crore across the state had registered themselves for the crop insurance scheme this year. The figure almost meets the state target of 78 lakh envisaged in the beginning of the kharif season, even as farmer leaders said 40 per cent farmers could not avail...

-The Indian Express To lend a hand to the helpless souls, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has opened their kitchen to the farmers who have been in Jantar Mantar for over three months. Over 100 farmers fled from their villages in Tamil Nadu and arrived in Delhi to stage a protest with the skulls of the people who committed suicide. Life is tough for the Tamil Nadu farmers who are...

-Livemint.com Unlike the dhoti-clad, topi-wearing quintessential ‘kisan’, the new Indian farmer is vocal and tech-savvy New Delhi: In the winter of 1988 when the feisty farmer leader from Uttar Pradesh, Mahendra Singh Tikait, laid siege to Delhi with thousands of cultivators and their cattle literally creating a mess of the boat club lawns, agriculture’s share in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was about 30%. About three decades later, the farm sector’s share in...

-Livemint.com 2016 recorded the lowest suicides in the farm sector in over two decades, shows data shared by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh New Delhi: There is little doubt that 2016 was replete with positive data on agriculture sector—a normal monsoon, record production of grains and perishables, and a rebound in the farm sector growth after consecutive years of drought-induced dismal performance. However, this positive data failed to lift farmers’ sentiment because...

-The Hindu Strengthening the repayment capacity of farmers by improving and stabilising their income is the only way to keep them out of distress Indian agriculture is characterised by low scale and low productivity. About 85% of the operational landholdings in the country are below 5 acres and 67% farm households survive on an average landholding of one acre. More than half of the area under cultivation does not have access to...