-Livemint.com How increased mechanization, volatile prices and stressed farm incomes are leading to a consolidation of agricultural land in Punjab Patiala/Sangrur/New Delhi: A farmer selling his farm equipment is a telltale sign of distress. But Maghar Singh doesn’t regret doing it. Six years ago, he sold his tractor, harvester and other equipment, and rented out his 8 acres (3.2 hectares) of land in Patiala in south-eastern Punjab where he used to...

-The Times of India AURANGABAD: With the worsening drought situation in the region, farmer suicides continue unabated this year. About 300 Farmers have taken their lives since January this year. The highest number (83) of farmer suicides has been reported from Beed district, followed by Nanded with 55 deaths and Osmanabad with 50 cases. Last year, a total of 569 Farmers in the region had taken their lives. Osmanabad is one of the...

-IANS CHANDIGARH: They have been warned, threatened with prosecution and even offered inducements. But a number of Farmers in Punjab and Haryana seem disinclined to stop their environment-unfriendly bi-annual exercise of burning crop residue, cited by environmentalists as one of the prinicipal causes of dust haze and air pollution in Delhi and northern India. With the wheat harvest in both the states nearly over, authorities are attempting in whatever they can to...

-The Indian Express Rahul Gandhi will help Farmers more if he focuses on how policies are implemented   On April 30, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi undertook a padyatra of about 15 km in the Vidarbha region to register his sympathy and concerns for Farmers. Vidarbha has been reeling under agrarian distress for many years, and has also been an epicentre of farmer suicides. Cotton being one of the primary crops of this...

-ANI Chennai: Indian agriculture is at the cross roads, Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, father of India's first Green Revolution, has warned. Lamenting on the state of Indian Farmers, especially Farmers with small land-holdings, Dr. Swaminathan said, "The market economy certainly is not friendly to small Farmers. WTO regulations are also hindrance. Even in the United States which is the heartland of the free market economy, Farmers are insulated from market shocks through heavy...