-Livemint.com NSSO report on land and livestock holdings estimates that around 95 million hectares of land was classified as operational holdings in 2012-13 New Delhi: How much land is actually cultivated in India? Depending on the data source, you might have to give or take the total area of France. Consider this: The latest National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report on land and livestock holdings estimates that around 95 million hectares of...

-Business Standard Looking at economics behind agricultural households, a survey notes that 68.3% of such households still relied on agriculture as primary source of income Rural distress is a known story but a survey by NSSO has revealed the alarming level of fragmentation in farmland and unavailability of jobs. As many as 69 per cent agricultural households own less than a hectare of farmland each, making farming unviable and forcing migration to...

-Livemint.com With rural distress taking a turn for the worse due to weather woes and lower crop prices, farmer unions write to PM demanding constitution of commission New Delhi: With rural distress taking a turn for the worse due to weather woes and lower crop prices, leading farmer unions from across the country have written a joint letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding constitution of an income commission that could...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: Experts feel that notwithstanding individual causes behind farmers' suicides, so many of them resorting to the extreme step shows that the average peasant in the state is in severe monetary distress. Unofficial sources put the death toll at 40 in the past two months. "Some of the suicides may turn out to be for reasons other than agricultural loss. But, the larger picture indicates financial constraints are...

Recently meat sale and consumption was banned in five BJP-ruled states of Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Haryana and Gujarat on the pretext of not hurting the religious sentiments of Jain community during Paryushan festival. Earlier this year, beef consumption and sale was banned in Maharashtra with the passage of Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Bill, 1995. A few days back, a Muslim man named Mohammad Akhlaq was lynched by a Hindu mob...