-Hindustan Times When Prime Minister Narendra Modi met some prominent billionaires last month, seeking quicker job-creation and investments, many industrialists complained that falling rural demand for goods was rocking their boats too. Incomes of India’s 833 million mostly poor rural population – a huge market for all kinds of goods – are barely rising and it is a cause for worry. Farming contributes just 15% of India’s $2 trillion economy, but half...

-The Times of India THANE: With little hopes of revival of farmlands in Marathwada region, large-scale migration of Farmers from these barren lands to second tier cities like Thane and Navi Mumbai can be expected in future, say experts in the field of migration. Scant showers this monsoon has filled the Marathwada dam up to just about 16%, providing hardly any relief to Farmers here. As a result, massive influx of Farmers...

-Hindustan Times In August this year, whiteflies -- a notorious pest -- bumbled through vast tracts of Punjab’s cotton fields, destroying a sizeable chunk of the crop in the state. These insects, which slurp on juicy, tender bolls, seemed to have inflicted heavy losses, sparking a serious farm crisis in India’s agricultural powerhouse in a decade. A back-to-back drought meant Farmers grew more cotton, a hardy crop that requires less water to...

-PTI CHANDIGARH: The raging controversy over cow slaughter has hit the Rs 2,500 crore business of breeding cows in Punjab with dairy Farmers accusing the state's Gau Sewa Commission of "harassing" them by "inordinately" delaying the necessary permission for export of bovines to other states. Dairy Farmers under the banner of Punjab Progressive Dairy Farmers' Association alleged that the "inordinate" delay in getting the necessary permission from district authorities for export of...

-The Hindu Study by expert group attributes it to climate change impact TIRUVARUR (Tamil Nadu): A recent study on the climate change and its impact in the Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu reveals a disturbing trend of shrinking paddy coverage, loss of kuruvai as a season, samba crop at the mercy of monsoon and importantly agricultural concerns turning more intense than ever before. Shocked at the findings, agriculture activists have called...