-The Times of India MUMBAI: A staggering Rs 460 crore disbursed by the Maharashtra government as compensation for drought-hit Farmers has come right back to the state's coffers. The key reason it could not be distributed, officials admit, is that lakhs of Farmers impacted by the calamity do not have bank accounts - now a mandatory requirement for aid recipients. Since 2014, Maharashtra has been allotting aid only to bank accounts of...

-The Indian Express The pace of land acquisition, which has been taking place in India since Independence, increased after liberalisation. In more cases than not, it has been successful, that is, both buyer and seller have been satisfied with the outcome. But today, land acquisition is being portrayed as next to impossible. This perception is not based on reality and needs to be changed. The Farmer is wrongly being portrayed as...

-Huffington Post Bhau Kadam (name changed) is a small sugarcane Farmer in western Maharashtra. He and his family own about 3 hectares of land. Kadam has two sons who are both graduates and work in Pune. When I asked him why he did not make his sons Farmers, he said that farming is hard work, is non-remunerative and it is difficult to get labour. Besides he also thinks that a...

-The Indian Express Food safety is critical for public health as food-borne diseases affect people's well-being,strain health-care systems, and adversely impact national economies, tourism and trade How often do we ask ourselves if the food we are eating is safe? Do we know if it is free of bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, other contaminates, additives and adulterants which can cause over 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancer? Every year, diarrhoea caused...

-The Indian Express Mumbai: The Maharashtra government is likely to bring Farmers' suicides under insurance cover to enable higher financial compensation to the victims' families, state Agriculture Minister Eknath Khadse has told The Indian Express. The development comes at a time when the government is grappling with drought across 24,000 villages and an increasing number of Farmer suicides is being reported from the Marathwada region. Statistics show that almost 85 to 90...