-The Hindu Gajendra Singh Rajput from Dausa. Hargovind Harane from Vidarbha . Gosai Patra from Bardhaman. Why did these Farmers take their own lives? In the light of the burning issue of farmer suicides across the country, A.R. Vasavi looks at the plight of the marginalised cultivator. Basamma and her ailing husband have carried and spread their five sacks of ragi (finger millet) from their half-acre plot to the local tar road...
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If it doesn’t rain -Shweta Saini & Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express We need a contingency plan that combines real-time technology with robust insurance and easy credit. On April 22, 2015 the Indian Met Department (IMD) released its first forecast for the upcoming monsoon rains, saying it is likely to be below normal, at 93 per cent of the long period average (LPA). Only a week before that, on April 15, a private forecaster, Skymet, had predicted normal rains (102...
More »Land reform in reverse gear in Asian countries, says report -Jitendra
-Down to Earth It claims that 6 per cent of farm owners hold two-thirds of agricultural land in the continent, putting livelihoods of millions of small Farmers at risk Asia is seeing high consolidation of land and land reform is moving in the opposite direction, says a report by Spain-based non-profit GRAIN. Only 6 per cent of farm owners control two-thirds of the continent’s agricultural land. These land owners are politically connected...
More »Potato test for government -Jitendra
-Down to Earth The crash in potato price is triggering a wave of suicides in several states. Will the NDA government's ambitious Price Stabilisation Fund help Farmers? Soon after the National Democratic Alliance government announced its ambitious Price Stabilisation Fund to contain price volatility in the domestic market, the scheme faces its acid test. A bumper crop has led to a free fall in potato prices in several states this year. Between...
More »Vidarbha Farmers bear beasts of burden -Omar Rashid
-The Hindu After beef ban, no buyers for old bullocks. AMRAVATI: For the fourth week in a row, Balu Bhalve has returned home dejected. In the sweltering heat, the debt-ridden farmer travelled more than 15 km from his village to sell a pair of old bullocks at Badnera Mandi here on Friday. But the cattle market, abuzz on the weekly auction day even two months ago, presents a grim picture now. Even after...
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