-Business Standard A clear picture is likely to emerge only towards the end of June Mumbai: Rural distress owing to heavy unseasonal rains in March and the prospects of less-than-normal monsoon have made bankers “a cautious lot” at the start of this financial year. However, it is too early to conclude that the impact of rains, or the lack of it, would be bad. According to public sector bank executives, the assessment for...
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91 per cent Andhra Pradesh farmers are debt-laden -Bh. Ramakrishna
-Deccan Chronicle Hyderabad: Nearly 91 per cent of farmers in AP are debt-ridden. Unable to repay their debts to private moneylenders, farmers sometimes commit suicide, state Agriculture department statistics. This was informed to the AP Assembly too in the recent Budget Session by minister for agriculture P. Pulla Rao. Most of these farmers are tenants who number nearly 25 lakh. Of them, only 1.4 lakh get loans from banks. Nationalised banks, in...
More »Farming is not a political game -Jaideep A Prabhu
-The Hindu Given the high investment and negative incentives such as input subsidies, small farmers have not benefited from government schemes. Everything about the suicide of the farmer from Dausa, Gajendra Singh, save the tragedy for his family, has been theatre — the very public venue, the occasion of a political rally, the politicians happily playing their populist cards, and the media’s focus on trivialities. The tragedy is being skilfully milked for...
More »Land Acquisition Bill: Missing the big, bleak picture -Sanjay Kumar & Pranav Gupta
-The Hindu With the Land Acquisition Bill in the limelight, nobody is talking about the real reforms that farmers need. A major survey finds that almost half the respondents don't want to continue with agriculture. The unseasonal rains over the last few weeks have resulted in enormous loss of crop output across many States of North India. This has shifted attention from the issue of land acquisition to other important problems faced...
More »A renewed cycle of farmer distress
-Livemint.com Farm-Loan waivers are costly palliatives that cause long-term damage Every decade or so India's farmers finds themselves in distress. Crop prices plunge, debts mount and if there is real bad luck, the monsoon fails. Soon enough farmers begin committing suicides and in the din of noise about agrarian distress the government of the day takes some steps. They are no more than palliatives and end up doing more harm than good. Please...
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