-TheWire.in The Shiromani Akali Dal has accused the Amarinder Singh-led congress government of not fulfilling its promise of loan waivers for farmers in the state. New Delhi: A total of 919 farmers have committed suicide in Punjab in the last two years. On Tuesday, the families of some of the deceased farmers protested at the Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh, The Tribune reported. Around 100 families who had gathered under the aegis of...

-TheWire.in A figure is based on data compiled by farmer union Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan). New Delhi: Debt has continued to overwhelm farmers in Punjab since the rollout of Congress’s loan waiver scheme in January 2018. Four hundred thirty farmers and farm labourers with outstanding loans ranging between Rs 1-20 lakh committed suicide in the intervening one year period, the Indian Express reported. The data, which is based on revenue department and police records,...

-The Hindu Business Line It scores over loan waivers as it benefits all farmers and gives them more control over the cultivation and sale of their produce There is an illusion across various quarters that a one-time farm loan waiver can remove all the hardships farmers have been going through over the last 15 years or so. This illusion has been occupying more space in public discourse in recent months because of...

-The Hindu The solution lies in better schemes that ensure universal coverage for small, marginal and medium-sized farmers To do or not to do? According to reports, the Central government is discussing a scheme to waive outstanding farm loans in the aftermath of widespread farmers’ protests between March and December 2018 . Till now, at least 11 States have announced schemes to waive outstanding farm loans: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil...

-TheWire.in Aquifers at all levels are being depleted. There is thus an urgent need to review and enact the long-pending model groundwater bill. As winter tips into summer, the next round of water struggles will begin. By February, hand pumps across rural India will start going dry. People in urban centres, mostly small towns living off small stores of groundwater, will start getting increasingly erratic supply. The government will once again initiate...