-The Indian Express Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is likely to bring farmers' suicides under insurance cover to enable higher financial compensation to the victims' families, state Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse has told The Indian Express. The development comes at a time when the government is grappling with drought across 24,000 villages and an increasing number of farmer suicides is being reported from the Marathwada region. Statistics show that almost 85 to 90...
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Alone, with the mounting loan -Tomojit Basu
-The Hindu Business Line Farmers across Uttar Pradesh and Punjab lament weather woes and lack of social security Consumers may be bracing themselves for rising prices of vegetables and fruits, but the unseasonal heavy showers and hailstorms through the first half of March have already dealt a significant blow to farmers across much of the northern, central and western belts. Agriculture Ministry estimates earlier this week showed that Rabi crops in about 181...
More »New AIIMS: Quantity, not quality? -Rema Nagarajan
-The Times of India It has become fashionable to announce the setting up of new AIIMS or AIIMS-like institutes in every annual union budget. After the first six were announced in 2006, finance minister Arun Jaitley announced the setting up of four more in the last budget and another six in the current one, taking the total number to 16, not counting the original one in Delhi. While announcing new AIIMS...
More »Miles to go for achieving food security
Those who compare India with China on equal basis, could be left with egg on their face if the new Global Food Policy Report 2014-15 is to be read and believed. The recent report from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) shows why India is still faring much worse as compared to its neighbours including China, in the areas of agriculture and food security. In 2012, China spent close to...
More »Potato glut & price slump drive 8 farmers to commit suicide in Bengal -Phalguni Banerjee
-The Times of India KOLKATA: A potato glut and plunging prices have triggered suicides in Bengal's Hooghly, Burdwan and Bankura districts. Hooghly alone reported six of them. Prices have crashed, one kg of the tuber selling for Rs 3 to Rs 4. With the pressure unlikely to ease in the near future, peasants face an uncertain future and are agitating. In 2013, Bengal's farmers reaped a good harvest of 85 lakh tonnes...
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