-The Times of India Chandigarh: Nearly three months after being sworn in, the Congress government in Punjab is still working on farm debt waiver, its key poll PLAnk in the last assembly elections. But even as the government panel hopes to submit an interim report this week, independent experts point out that given the poor financial health of the state and the Centre in no mood to offer a bailout, the...

-The Hindu Economist suggests implementation of a radical form of and distribution and ‘low external input sustainable agriculture’ system Mumbai: Economist and former member of Maharashtra State PLAnning Board H.M. Desarda, on Tuesday termed the recently announced farm loan waiver by the State government as a necessary but not sufficient condition to deal with the problems related to agriculture. Prof. Desarda linked today’s problems in agriculture to ecology and traced their origins to...

-The Hindu Without government support, farmers pay the price for a bumper crop they labour so hard to produce The ongoing farmers’ agitation has taken on a shockingly violent form. Discussion has revolved around an apparent paradox: why are farmers rioting after a bumper crop? But any student of economics knows that prices fall after bumper harvests, which is good for consumers but terrible for farmers. This is why the government needs...

-NDTV This year, the Punjab government claims farmers are likely have a bumper cotton harvest, with cotton acreage doubling in the Malwa region to about 3.9 lakh acres -- against last year's 2.4 lakh acres -- and the government's awareness and action-against-whitefly campaigns in PLAce Punjab: Baldev Sharma, 39, from Bathinda's Talwandi Sabo is a third generation cotton farmer. This year he sowed cotton on 12 acres of land compared to...

-Livemint.com Doling out farm loan waivers without addressing rural distress is just kicking the can down the road and PLAying into the hands of the moral hazard brigade Last week, farmers agitating for better prices for their produce of onions and pulses—prices for both of which have witnessed a steep fall in recent months—in Mandsaur district of western Madhya Pradesh turned violent. Coming in the backdrop of a similar agitation by farmers in...