-Livemint.com Of the total 12,602 farm sector suicides in 2015, 8,007 were farmers while 4,595 were agricultural labourers New Delhi: A widespread drought and rising indebtedness led to 12,602 suicides by farmers and agricultural labourers in 2015, shows data released by the National Crime Records Bureau. According to the report ‘Accidental deaths and suicides in India 2015’, the total number of suicides in the farming sector is 2% higher than the 12,360 recorded...

-PTI While the Government and banks want transparency from citizens, they refuse to be transparent themselves as the RBI again refuses to respond to RTI applications seeking reasons for Demonetisation Why were Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 notes demonetised by the government? Fifty days after the government announced that these notes would cease to be legal tender, Reserve Bank of India feels that the reasons behind the sudden announcement cannot be made public. The...

-Down to Earth Government’s policy decisions and ground reports are in conflict with official data on sowing, production and agriculture insurance The Centre’s claim of 94 million metric tonnes (MT) (2015-16) of wheat production, good sowing acreage and success of agriculture insurance scheme is not in sync with reality as government’s own data do not match agriculture ministry’s claims.   The data related to increased acreage, bumper production and success of agriculture...

-Livemint.com Prices may dip further once the harvest from Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh hits markets in January New Delhi: After moong, prices of arhar, a major rain-fed kharif crop, have plunged below support prices in major growing States such as Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh where the crop has reached markets. The dip in wholesale prices follows a record crop due to a normal south-west monsoon and farmers increasing its acreage, taking a...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Tomato and other vegetables prices, including those of onion and potato, have come down after demonetisation. But the National Horticulture Board, which tracks horticultural produce markets across the country , has found that the fall has more to do with transporters' resistance to pick up the produce from farms than to a poor cash flow at the farmers' end. Ground reports, shared with the board, have...