-Down to Earth Funds allocated in July for diesel subsidy haven't reached many farmers yet; irrigation projects needed, say locals The agriculture department of the Bihar government has allocated Rs 100 crore in diesel subsidy October 14, 2022 to help distressed farmers get diesel subsidy.  The plan announced in a public address by the newly appointed agriculture minister of the state, Kumar Sarvajeet, is in line with the state’s action plan to help...

-Newsclick.in The Narendra Modi government has carried the practice of making low budgetary allocations for MGNREGS to its limit. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS was introduced by the United Progressive Alliance-I government despite opposition from the neo-liberal lobby within it, owing inter alia to the active intervention of the Left, which was supporting that government from outside. The scheme was restrictive from the beginning: it promised a maximum...

-Scroll.in We must remember that there is no one such thing as ‘Indian agriculture’ whenever we discuss reforms. Multiple models need to be discussed. On Monday, Parliament cleared a bill to repeal the three farm laws that had gripped Indian politics for much of the past year. Passed in September 2020, the laws were meant to allow much greater play of corporate capital in Indian agriculture. However, the laws also sparked fears...

The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-Livemint.com * The latest Situation Assessment Survey adds to findings that reveal worsening agrarian distress * Our agricultural sector has been in a state of perpetual decline after 2012-13 and is reeling under such shocks as back-to-back droughts, demonetization and the covid-19 pandemic Earlier this month, the National Statistical Office released the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of agricultural households for the 2018-19 agricultural year, which runs from July to June. This is the...