-The Indian Express The big question in the minds of everyone who can recall is: Will 2015 for Marathwada turn out worse than the worst-ever drought of 1972? Parbhani (Maharashtra): Sadashiv Kathurappa Gajmal, 44, has long stopped introducing himself as a farmer. “I am a labourer,” says this father of four and owner of 2.5 acres of land in Charthana village of Parbhani’s Jintur taluka. Unfortunately, he has had little or no...

-Frontline As rural Karnataka reels under an unprecedented wave of suicides by farmers, the State administration looks on, unwilling to address the reasons that have rendered rural livelihoods fragile. DEATH stalks rural Karnataka. In the 41 days between July 1 and August 10, as many as 245 farmers committed suicide, an average of six a day; since April 1, 284 farmers have taken their lives. As a bewildered State government gropes...

-Business Standard CRISIL Ratings identifies four states and five crops at highest risk to deficient monsoon Within the next 40 days, the southwest monsoon will formally start retracting from the Indian mainland, ending its four-month journey over the country, pounding some parts with excess showers, but could leave almost 30 per cent of the country with deficient or less-than-normal rains, unless there is an abnormal pickup in the coming weeks. That looks highly...

-Economic and Political Weekly Farmers' unions and political parties have been demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan minimum support price (cost plus 50%) to address agrarian crisis and farmers' distress. But they have not raised demands for the implementation of the recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers, which have the potential to provide lasting solutions. Ranjit Singh Ghuman (ghumanrs@yahoo.co.uk) is a Nehru SAIL Chair Professor, Centre for Research in Rural and...

-The Times of India BELAGAVI: At a time when the state is witnessing a spate of farmers' suicides owing to mounting debts and Crop Failure, a group of 12 landless farmers in Geddalabavihatti village in Belagavi taluk are writing a success story with hard work and a never-say-die attitude. When they decided to take up farming on about 45 acres of barren land owned by the state government about four years ago,...