-Hindustan Times Revolution imminent… genetically modified seeds produced by MNCs cause Farmer suicides. Incendiary, out-of-context sound-bites juxtaposed between heartrending visuals distort rural poverty from a complex issue that each Indian must help resolve to a simplistic, accusatory Peepli Live feature. Instead of quixotic and strident anti-growth agendas offered as panacea, a coordinated and consistent approach to poverty reduction is needed. Poverty reduction needs development. The linkage between economic growth and poverty reduction is...

-The Indian Express Vidarbha’s Farmers have escaped the worst of drought this year and hope to gain from high arhar prices. Wardha (Maharashtra): About 95 km from Nagpur and to the left of National Highway-7 leading to Hyderabad is a 14-acre farm that is now the cynosure of many eyes. This field, at Daroda village in Hinganghat tehsil of Wardha district, radiates only green with no traces of white or brown dots —...

-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...

-Scroll.in Two successive crop failures have brought the poor of Bundelkhand to the brink. The soil is too arid to plant the winter crop of wheat and families have begun to cut down on meals. While her grandson Sultan nibbles on a roti, Shanti lies wrapped in a blanket, ignoring the hunger pangs. Her son and daughter-in-law have gone to work as daily wagers in Sehore near Bhopal, 300 kilometres away, leaving...

-Hindustan Times Bathinda: A month after Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal ordered the framing of a policy to compensate farm labourers for cotton crop loss due to the whitefly attack, the state government is yet to identify labourers for the purpose. The government had in October announced compensation of Rs 64 crore for labourers, mainly cotton pickers. Badal had also asked the revenue department to come out with a viable policy for...