-Hindustan Times Previous attempts to study 18th and 19th century droughts have Been limited to meteorological droughts caused by failure of rains A study that reconstructed droughts and famines across India over the last 146 years says lack of moisture in the soil for extended periods of time can be linked to some of the most devastating famines. Previous attempts to study 18th and 19th century droughts have Been limited to meteorological droughts...

-Financial Express With elections approaching, every party is swearing by farmers and trying to woo them for their votes. The Modi government has already announced a package of Rs 75,000 crore for about 12.6 crore small and marginal farmers. While in absolute terms it looks sizeable, when it is divided by the number of farm families to be covered, it is miniscule—just `6,000 per family per year, which is about 6%...

-The Hindu Three out of five farmers in India grow their crops using rainwater, instead of irrigation. However, per hectare government investment into their lands may be 20 times lower, government procurement of their crops is a fraction of major irrigated land crops, and many of the government’s flagship agriculture schemes are not tailored to benefit them. A new rainfed agriculture atlas released this week not only maps the agro biodiversity and...

-The Indian Express All the farmers who faced criminal action for defaulting on loans say they were made to sign on blank cheques. “If you write about our plight, will the government stop banks from sending us to jail?,” asks Ujagar Singh. The 60-year-old from Jhumba village in Bathinda district is among scores of Punjab farmers who have Been convicted or are facing trial in criminal cases of cheque-bouncing filed by banks...

-The Hindu Business Line How 140 farmers in Maharashtra’s Jalna district have Been left high and dry Farmers of Jalna district in Aurangabad Division of Maharashra, who planted pomegranate, mango and sweet lime in the 2017 kharif season and lost their crop because of a drought are in a state of despair. Despite coughing up premiums for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), they have not received a penny from the...