-The Hindu   Dindori (Maharashtra): This constituency in Nashik district does not occupy a particularly significant spot on the election map, but it presents a neat battle of "status quo vs. change" between its elite wine-grape farmers and onion growers. While onion farmers are rooting for change, grape growers are largely status-quoist, favouring the Congress for fear that a Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will not encourage the nascent wine industry in the country. Dindori,...

-MoneyLife.in India, the world's second largest food producer, is witnessing growing distress and declining confidence in agriculture as most small and landless farmers, with less of a stake, are found to quit farming The recent unseasonal heavy rains, thunder and hailstorms originating from unusually intense western disturbances from the Mediterranean interacting with the south-easterly winds from the Bay of Bengal have ravaged the due-for-harvesting chana, lentils and wheat in Madhya Pradesh,...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: The issue of farmers' suicide seems to have resurfaced with a vengeance in Maharashtra following the recent bout of unseasonal showers and hailstorms in the state. While sources working closely with the government have said that around 18 farmers have killed themselves between February 22 and March 18, social activists claim the figure could be between 80 and 100 - more than the average for every...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre may announce relief package for farmers, who lost their standing crops in rains and hailstorm in different states, on or after March 19. Officials, who have been visiting Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan to assess the overall loss to the farmers, will submit their reports to the Centre by March 19. The announcement will, however, be made only after taking permission from...

-PTI Hailstorms have had a wider impact on crops, since a large quantity of crops including wheat, grapes, mustard and vegetables have been damaged in Maharashtra Mumbai: Crop in more than eight lakh hectares in Maharashtra has been damaged by untimely rain and hailstorm in some parts of the state, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said here today. "I have spoken to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar in...