-Livemint.com Raman Singh govt requests Centre for nearly Rs4,000 crore in assistance to carryout relief operations New Delhi: Chhattisgarh has become the sixth state to declare a drought and the fourth so far to seek central aid. The state government said that 25 of its 27 districts have been drought-hit. Earlier, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh declared a drought in 110 of their districts. “Based on a prima facie evaluation, the cabinet...

-The Indian Express Government cannot afford to wait any longer to address the building agricultural distress. The government and the political class seem oblivious to a deepening farm crisis, resulting from back-to-back monsoon failures and falling crop prices. One indicator of the growing agrarian distress is farmer suicides, no longer a phenomenon confined to Vidarbha or Telangana. The current year has seen farmers even in states like Karnataka, Odisha and Madhya...

-NDTV In Drought-Struck Odisha, Aid Fails To Stop Farmers Suicides Khurda, Odisha: After her husband Abhimanyu, a 52-year-old farmer in Odisha's Khurda district, committed suicide by consuming poison last month, Pratima Baliarsingh is yet to recover from the trauma. Pratima, 45, now has to repay an almost two lakh rupee-loan that her husband took from various banks and villagers.   The district administration gave her a cheque of Rs. 20,000 after her husband's death but...

-The Pioneer Bhubaneswar: The increasing instances of farmers’ suicides due mainly to failure of crops and burden of loans incurred from different sources have brought traumatic shocks and a shattering blow to the farming community in Odisha and brazen shame to the present dispensation at the helm. It appears that the State administration is never worried and concerned about the agonies and tragedies of the poor cultivators. As reported, an astounding number...

-The New Indian Express BHUBANESWAR: In a State where agriculture continues to be the mainstay of livelihood for the majority, the spate of farmer suicides has not really come as a surprise. Or has it? With agriculture turning into a non-remunerative business and State’s farm sector remaining largely rain-fed, climatic changes have been sounding the warning bells but the Government saw no danger. Its self-assuredness that minimum support price (MSP) only is...