-The Economic Times Minutes after taking oath on Monday as the new Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Kamal Nath sanctioned the waiver of farm loans in the state, as promised in the Congress election manifesto. Ostensibly, this is to relieve economic distress for farmers. But Nath himself was on record last week saying, “[Farmer distress] is why there are so many suicides.” Thus, the lightning waiver. Before anything else, let’s get the facts...

-Firstpost.com Landless labourers in Bihar benefit from the silt that comes down from the Himalayas by growing vegetables, but it is an extremely tough life, with very little profit for the farmer Every year after the festival of Diwali, Pramod Prasad, a landless farmer from the Surajpur village in the Bairia block of West Champaran in Bihar, packs a set of clothes and some utensils to set out for the Gandak River....

-The Telegraph Their demand for assured remunerative prices, therefore, is perfectly justified There are occasions when one suddenly becomes aware not just of the inadequacy of economic concepts for understanding reality but even of their obfuscating role. One such occasion was the recent kisan march in Delhi. The peasants have been facing distress for long, which has resulted in more than three lakh suicides over the last two-and-a-half decades, in growing indebtedness...

-The Times of India RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Monday announced to waive farm loans to the tune of Rs 6,100 crore of more than 16 lakh farmers and also decided to set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the deadly maoist attack in Bastar. Addressing his maiden press conference after the swearing-in ceremony and subsequent first cabinet meeting, Baghel said it has been decided to waive off...

-The Hindu Issues such as levy on warehousing, agri-project imports pose a challenge With the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) — India’s biggest reform in the tax structure — the government has succeeded in moving a step closer towards making the country a unified common market, leading the nation’s economy towards growth and sustainability. India’s fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector has grown consistently over the past three years, reaching over...