-Business Standard While ADVVDRS was hailed as a key reason for UPA's return to power in 2009, the scheme itself later drew flak for its flaws, with CAG finding many of the accounts ineligible for waiver or relief In order to help the country’s small and marginal farmers, the Congress party has promised to bring a nationwide loan waiver scheme on the lines of its 2009 programme, should the party be voted...

-ThePrint.in Renowned agricultural economist Sardara Singh Johl takes on father of green revolution M.S. Swaminathan’s idea of raising MSP to 1.5 times the production costs. New Delhi: Renowned agricultural economist Sardara Singh Johl agrees with M.S. Swaminathan, the man Credited as the father of the ‘green revolution’, on the futility of loan waivers to ease farm distress. But he disagrees with a much-touted recommendation of the committee on tackling the farm crisis Swaminathan...

-IANS Farmer suicides have been taking place across India for years now, and studies of rural distress reveal the deeply-rooted, tenacious causes, such as lack of irrigation, fragmentation of land, unsuitability of seeds and inadequate sources of Credit. Despite the democratically-elected governments that claim to represent a country where over half the population is dependent on farming, agriculture has been consistently ignored at a steep cost to farmers' lives. Remedies have been...

-Livemint.com The number of farmers covered under prime minister’s crop insurance scheme fell to 47.9 million in 2017-18, from a high of 57.5 million the year before, a sharp decline of 17% in just a year New Delhi: Despite the centre pumping more funds into its flagship crop insurance scheme, coverage among farmers is on the decline, according to figures released on Tuesday, indicating a decline in interest among farmers. The number of...

-Hindustan Times Both, the farmers who undertook the march and those who went on strike, represent the wide spectrum of the state’s ongoing agrarian and rural distress. Last year, on June 1, thousands of farmers in Maharashtra went on an unprecedented strike, refusing to sell their produce to markets and cutting off supply of daily necessities – milk, vegetables and fruits – to cities. The two-day strike forced the Devendra Fadnavis-led...