-The Times of India CHANDIGARH: Fear of another attack of whitefly pest, which ravaged huge tracts of cotton last year in Punjab, has led to biggest drop in area under cotton cultivation in Punjab in more than six decades. Data from Union agriculture ministry's department of economics and statistics (DES) shows that area under cotton crop this season has shrunk to 2.56 lakh hectares in the state, the lowest since 1955-56....
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Canal water for drinking, toxic groundwater for irrigation! -Ruchika M Khanna
-The Tribune Chandigarh: While Punjab is increasingly increasing using canal water for drinking on account of high toxicity in the ground water, it will now pump out this water for irrigation purposes. The new tubewell connections – 1.25 lakh - will not just deplete the state’s already depleted water table, but water pumped up from these tubewells pose a risk of contaminating the food grains and vegetables grown in the fields. Sources in...
More »Whitefly fear makes Malwa farmers look beyond cotton -Navrajdeep Singh
-Hindustan Times Bathinda: In the wake of losses due to whitefly attack last season, the Punjab agriculture department is facing the possibility of covering less acreage under cotton crop this year. This may result in the department falling short of its target to cover five-lakh hectares under the cotton crop in Malwa region this kharif season. The agriculture department has put everything on stake to revive cotton economy but the lack of...
More »Debt weighing down farmers of cotton belt -Mohammad Ghazali
-Hindustan Times Mansa: As cases of suicide by farmers due to indebtedness continue to be reported in the district, there are hundreds of households in which children, who have lost their fathers, have inherited debt and accompanying distress. Ranjeet Singh, 35, a farmer from Kotdharmu village, ended his life in 2013 after he failed to repay the debt of his father who had been forced to incur it several years ago. His ailing...
More »Brinkmanship over a limited dispute -Yogendra Yadav
-The Hindu The Centre should step forward and bring both Punjab and Haryana, ruled by the BJP and an ally, to the negotiating table to resolve the crisis over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal Contemporary India illustrates the tragic paradox of farmers’ politics: they get divided just when they need to unite the most. The last few years have witnessed a deepening of the agrarian crisis in India. This is the moment when...
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