-The Indian Express Chandigarh: The agriculturist claimed that the severity of the crisis could be gauged from the spate of increasing farmer suicides, farmer debt and minimum support price. Agriculturalist Devinder Sharma said that Indian agriculture was facing crisis, primarily of sustainability and economic viability, during a press conference held at the Kisan Bhawan in Sector 35 Tuesday. Sharma claimed that the severity of the crisis could be gauged from the spate of...

-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 Hindu Business Line New Delhi: All India Kisan Sabha, the farmers’ outfit of CPI (M), has decided to hold a protest of the family members of farmers who committed suicide in the last one year. Families of about 100 farmers, who committed suicide, will sit in front of Parliament to protest the policies of the Narendra Modi Government on Monday. Alarming rise CPI (M) Polit Bureau member and AIKS General Secretary Hannan...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Indian weaver is dismissed in high places as an embarrassing anachronism, despite demand for his or her skills and products. In the new millennium, globalisation and a mindless acquiescence to imported notions of a good life threaten to take over, even as the West looks East for better concepts of sustainable living. Analysing today's crisis in the handloom sector, plagued by low-cost imitations from power looms,...

-Hindustan Times Shimla: Even as union agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh has blamed love affairs and then impotency for farmer suicides, figures recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) completely contradict him. According to the NCRB report, released recently, 87.5% of farmer suicides in Himachal Pradesh were due to crop failure in 2014 and the state also tops the northern region in absolute number of suicides by farmers with 32 such...