-The Times of India AHMEDABAD: At a time when the 'Gujarat model' is being discussed on global forums, agriculture labourers in rural areas of the state are among the lowest paid in the country. These labourers form the backbone of the rural economy in the state. The average daily wage paid to agricultural labourers in Gujarat is the lowest among 20 states. Only Madhya Pradesh pays less to its farm workers than...

-The Hindu Business Line The recent devastation of crops shows that the Indian economy continues to be a ‘gamble’ on the rain. But can India Meteorological Department’s new model make it predictable? Moisture wrecks a farmer's life. Since February this year, lakhs of farmers across 14 states were left with damaged crops. Unseasonal rains destroyed crops on 11 million hectares spread over Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Punjab....

-Livemint.com At a time when rural economy is badly in need of stimulus, the least the govt can do is increase spending on MGNREGA It is now officially acknowledged that the rural economy is heading for a distress situation. As if the fall in crop prices was not sufficient, the situation of farmers in India has been compounded by the vagaries of the monsoon with less than normal rainfall last year...

-The Telegraph Singur, the potato bowl of Bengal, appears to have landed in trouble again. Not on account of unwilling farmers grieving over their lost assets, but on account of overproduction by the ones who didn't lose their land. Excess supply of the crop has pulled down prices, leading indebted farmers to slither down the precipice. According to media reports, matters have come to a dismal pass, with a section of...

-Hindustan Times Bhopal: In a 1957 Bollywood classic Naya Daur, man battles machine and prevails. But in the canal irrigated areas of Madhya Pradesh, manual labourers are losing to a combine harvester, a rapid harvesting machine. Combine harvesters that first made their appearance in the 1960s turned out to be more economical and efficient ways of harvesting crops and then on they began to challenge the manual labour. Now the situation has come...