-Livemint.com New government data show India saw fewer cases of farmers taking their lives in 2018 than the year before. But this doesn’t mean rural distress is down. Much needs to be done It is tempting to relate the decline in the number of farmer suicides in 2018, as reported by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), to an abatement in rural distress. Such a temptation should, however, be tempered. There have...
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Farmer suicide rate sees marginal decline in 2018, concerns remain -Sharan Poovanna & Shaswati Das
-Livemint.com * 10,349 farmers and agricultural labourers killed themselves in 2018 compared with 10,655 in the previous year * In 2015, the government published elaborate data on farmer suicides, including reasons for suicides BENGALURU/ NEW DELHI: A total of 10,349 farmers and agricultural labourers committed suicide in 2018, a marginal dip from the 10,655 cases in the year before, home ministry data showed. According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data on accidental deaths...
More »An unequal burden -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Farmers are paying about Rs 15,000 crore GST annually, on which they cannot claim input tax credit. Agriculture is a unique business that not only has high production as well as price risk, but also one where everything is bought retail and sold wholesale. This reality, moreover, extends even to Goods and Services Tax (GST): Farmers are the only businessmen today who cannot claim input tax credit (ITC) on...
More »Can we prevent rural suicides? Yes, it is possible, says a recent WHO-FAO publication
Almost one in every five suicides in the world is committed by self-poisoning with pesticide, which mostly occur in rural, agricultural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), states a new publication entitled 'Preventing Suicide: A resource for pesticide registrars and regulators'. Published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the booklet says that the adoption of green revolution technology...
More »Manmohan Singh assails govt on slowdown: How the former PM has emerged as a strong Modi critic
-The Indian Express From economic issues to demonetisation or agrarian distress, Manmohan Singh has now become one of the strongest voices of the Opposition against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. New Delhi: Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rarely made public interventions in the last few years since the BJP came to power but whenever he has spoken, it has weighed heavily for the saffron party to ignore or paper over. From...
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