-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra demand better prices for their produce and loan waivers. But low prices and loans are not the real problems. These are mere symptoms of structural problems which cannot be solved by temporary measures such as a loan waiver. "While such turmoil appears to have immediate causes, their sources are rooted in problems that lie deeper," says Prakash Bakshi, a former...

-The Economic Times blog With loan waivers granted on Sunday to farmers in Maharashtra, and to farmers in Uttar Pradesh in April, Madhya Pradesh’s agriculturalists continue to demand waivers and the revision of the minimum support price even after protesting farmers in Mandsaur were shot dead by the police. While such turmoil appears to have immediate causes, their sources are rooted in problems that lie deeper. Today’s level of food grain production...

-The Hindu From a persisting cash crunch due to demonetisation to a price free fall because of a bumper produce, it’s a big bag of woes for farmers in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Mahesh Langa and Jayant Sriram report on the gathering storm as their protests for a fairer deal threaten to escalate Abhishek Patidar, 19, had just passed his Class 11 exam this year with dreams of becoming a doctor. His...

-Livemint.com Activists who are ideologically opposed to genetically modified crop technology have unleashed a virulent campaign to stall the GM Mustard cultivation Seven-and-a-half years ago, BT Brinjal, developed by two public agricultural universities, was approved for commercial cultivation by the genetic engineering approval committee (GEAC), a statutory body. BT Brinjal is inherently resistant to the notorious fruit and shoot borer (FSB) pest and therefore produces a marketable crop without the large number...

-Livemint.com Growing religiosity may boost the tourism sector but may hurt the overall economy Over the past decade, the proportion of religious people has either declined or stagnated in most countries. India seems to have been an exception, according to data from the World Values Survey (WVS), the largest global repository of data on attitudes and beliefs of individuals across the world. More than 90% of Indian respondents said religion was either ‘very...