-BBC Unseasonal rains and hailstorms have destroyed crops in several parts of northern and western India. Small Farmers are suffering the most in this crisis. Some of the affected Farmers in northern Uttar Pradesh state tell their stories to BBC Monitoring's Vikas Pandey. Ram Singh of Pratapgarh looks nervous and unsure about the future as he shows me the destroyed wheat crop in his farm. He is one among many Farmers in the...

-The Telegraph Bhubaneswar: The state government has opposed the Shanta Kumar Committee's recommendation for direct cash transfer through the public distribution system (PDS) instead of subsidised food grain supply to the beneficiaries. Officially, the state's opposition is based on the argument that cash transfer would affect Farmers, as procurement from them would stop. However, sources said the state was worried about the move's fallout on its scheme providing rice to the poor...

-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...

-Frontline   The BJP-led NDA government has, in the two Budgets it has presented so far, revealed itself to be very different from the pro-farmer image that its leading election campaigner and now Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, projected. THE Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha election states: "Agriculture is the engine of India's economic growth and the largest employer, and BJP commits highest priority to agriculture growth, increases in...

-NDTV Lucknow: Unseasonal rain and hailstorm in March have brought Uttar Pradesh to the brink of an agrarian crisis, affecting 25 of the state's 80 districts. Crop losses have dealt a particularly severe blow to landless Farmers, who are emerging the invisible casualties of the agrarian crisis. Unseasonal rain has destroyed crops on large tracts of farmland. And landless Farmers, who usually till farmlands leased or rented from landowners, fall through...