-The Indian Express Government’s insistence on acquisition is rooted in a rush to impose the Gujarat model on the rest of India. The development agenda of the Narendra Modi government implies industrialisation. The BJP’s 2014 mandate was indeed for job creation. The “neo-middle class”, which Modi defined when he was CM of Gujarat as made up of aspiring city dwellers who have just emerged from poverty, supported him more widely than the...

-Livemint.com The agriculture sector continues to be at risk from climate variability, be it drought or excessive rainfall Unseasonal rains and hailstorms in March and April caused severe damage to more than 10 million hectares of wheat, mustard, potato and other rabi crops. Independent estimates project damages to be as high as Rs.65,000 crore. In Haryana alone, standing crops in over 1.7 million hectares of land were affected. Unexpected rainfall late...

-The New Indian Express The financial distress in the rural sector, especially borne by the farmers and reflected in farmer suicides, is a matter of concern for the nation. The rural economy housing nearly two-thirds of the population is vital for the development of the nation as it not only supplies food for consumption but also provides a market for industrial output. The rural people, due to lack of awareness of...

-The Hindu Govt. accused of backtracking on promise of loan waiver Mumbai: Farmers in Maharashtra are using the phrase bure din (bad days) to describe their condition. Akshay Tale last spoke to his close friend Neelesh Walke at around 2.45 p.m. on December 30 last year. Neelesh, who faced a Rs. 2 lakh debt, seemed anxious but showed no signs that he was considering any extreme step. At around 4 p.m., Neelesh, barely 23,...

-ANI Greening the barren land in Jharkhand and West Bengal Deoghar: Standing amid the road in Kasuadi village in Jharkhand, Deevani Mahato looks intently towards the contrasting landscape stretching across on both sides of the road. Wet green fields of wheat, mustard and grams, separated by the bunds of mud, cover the land on one side. Barren tracts of red soil full of dry bushes and stones stretch on the other. "By next...