Maharashtra Agrarian Crisis

Opposition lawmakers in Maharashtra today staged a protest here alleging agrarian crisis in the state and made a strong pitch for complete farm loan waiver.

A farmers' group has taken its fight for higher remuneration and other issues to the Supreme Court, where it has filed a petition challenging an Article in the Constitution which it claims is against cultivators.

A father and son were found hanging from the same tree near their village in the drought-hit Yavatmal district in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

The government was today urged to act urgently to prevent suicides by farmers in Maharashtra who have been hit hard by the drought and were facing distress.

A flagship micro-irrigation scheme of the state government, that wants to end dependency on large dams and move to village-level projects for harvesting and conserving water, is beginning to yield results, farmers in Yavatmal's Kolura village say.

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for expansion of organic farming across the country, a prominent farm activist has urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban the use of chemicals in 14 suicide prone districts of the state.

A Central team is on a two-day visit to Maharashtra to assess the damage in drought-hit areas, after the state government sought a relief package of Rs 4,000 crore from the Union government. The state had earlier declared drought in 15,747 villages across Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena today said the corrective steps to ease the price of pulses, especially arhar dal were taken at the insistence of its cabinet ministers in Maharashtra.

Senior NCP leaders including parliamentarian Supriya Sule today took to the street in Maharashtra's drought hit Marathwada region as they protested against the "apathetic" attitude of the BJP-led government to the plight of farmers.

In view of the prevailing drought conditions, the Maharashtra government today decided to waive off educational fees of the farmers' children upto standard 12 in the districts hit by the natural calamity.

Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil today said NCP chief Sharad Pawar should introspect why despite he being in power in Maharashtra and Centre for long, Marathwada and other regions in the state continue to suffer from drought.

With less than 50 per cent rain this monsoon, the agrarian crisis in the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra has further deepened. At the heart of the crisis is a spurt in farmer suicides.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the state government was working on long term measures focused on agriculture to help farmers.

A pilot project would be undertaken in Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Osmanabad districts with Israeli cooperation to combat agrarian crisis, which has led to several farmers' suicide, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

Kalavati Bandurkar, the widowed Vidarbha farmer who shot to fame after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited her in 2008 and narrated her plight in Parliament, now wants the Congress leader to help her sons earn their livelihood.

Opposition lawmakers in Maharashtra today staged a protest here alleging agrarian crisis in the state and made a strong pitch for complete farm loan waiver.

A farmers' group has taken its fight for higher remuneration and other issues to the Supreme Court, where it has filed a petition challenging an Article in the Constitution which it claims is against cultivators.

A father and son were found hanging from the same tree near their village in the drought-hit Yavatmal district in Maharashtra on Tuesday.

The government was today urged to act urgently to prevent suicides by farmers in Maharashtra who have been hit hard by the drought and were facing distress.

A flagship micro-irrigation scheme of the state government, that wants to end dependency on large dams and move to village-level projects for harvesting and conserving water, is beginning to yield results, farmers in Yavatmal's Kolura village say.

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's pitch for expansion of organic farming across the country, a prominent farm activist has urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to ban the use of chemicals in 14 suicide prone districts of the state.

A Central team is on a two-day visit to Maharashtra to assess the damage in drought-hit areas, after the state government sought a relief package of Rs 4,000 crore from the Union government. The state had earlier declared drought in 15,747 villages across Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena today said the corrective steps to ease the price of pulses, especially arhar dal were taken at the insistence of its cabinet ministers in Maharashtra.

Senior NCP leaders including parliamentarian Supriya Sule today took to the street in Maharashtra's drought hit Marathwada region as they protested against the "apathetic" attitude of the BJP-led government to the plight of farmers.

In view of the prevailing drought conditions, the Maharashtra government today decided to waive off educational fees of the farmers' children upto standard 12 in the districts hit by the natural calamity.

Senior Congress leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil today said NCP chief Sharad Pawar should introspect why despite he being in power in Maharashtra and Centre for long, Marathwada and other regions in the state continue to suffer from drought.

With less than 50 per cent rain this monsoon, the agrarian crisis in the drought-prone Marathwada region of Maharashtra has further deepened. At the heart of the crisis is a spurt in farmer suicides.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the state government was working on long term measures focused on agriculture to help farmers.

A pilot project would be undertaken in Maharashtra's Yavatmal and Osmanabad districts with Israeli cooperation to combat agrarian crisis, which has led to several farmers' suicide, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said today.

Kalavati Bandurkar, the widowed Vidarbha farmer who shot to fame after Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi visited her in 2008 and narrated her plight in Parliament, now wants the Congress leader to help her sons earn their livelihood.