The countrywide share of corporate retail in food distribution tripled in the past four years when retail food prices showed the greatest increase. THE dramatic increase in food inflation over the past two years has been associated with several surprises. One major surprise has been how the top economic policymakers in the country have responded to it. The initial response was one of apparent disbelief, followed very quickly by the...
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Farmers' suicides reflective of death of rural banking by G Arun Kumar
Since the beginning of December last, 220 tenant farmers in the state have committed suicide or died of shock, crushed by mounting debts and loss of crops. Overall, the farmer death toll stands at a staggering 350-400. Though the fickle weather wreaked havoc, experts believe it's only partly to blame as several other factors have worked against the farming community. While economic expansion continues to bypass the farming community leaving...
More »Paddy farmers switching over to sugarcane cultivation
Paddy growing farmers in Bhandara are passing through a crucial phase. But there is a ray of hope in the form of Vainganga sugar factory. Instead of traditional paddy farming, the farmers are switching over to sugar cane cultivation. Paddy cultivators in Asagaon and Lakhandur have sown sugarcane in 400 hectares of land and till February next year, 1,000/1,200 hectares of land is likely to come under sugarcane cultivation. In...
More »Those other problems in Andhra Pradesh by P Sainath
If present political trends and shifts in Andhra Pradesh intensify, the State could see an election within a year. And not just over Telangana. When Chandrababu Naidu sits on a hunger fast for suffering farmers, you know something is afoot in Andhra Pradesh. Excessive rains have devastated the crops in the State. And losses have been enormous. But a farmer losing over Rs.15,000 on an acre of paddy will get less...
More »Monsoon misery by TS Subramanian
Tamil Nadu: The north-east monsoon, 50 per cent in excess in the State, claims over 200 lives and destroys crops and infrastructure.A SERIES of weather systems, including a cyclone that missed Chennai narrowly, saw the skies open up over Tamil Nadu between November 4 and December 5, the period when the north-east monsoon is most active. Most of the 561 mm of rainfall that the State received between October 1...
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