Media Monitor
Agriculture Industry
Rabi sees rise in area under paddy cultivationedit
The rabi season has witnessed a four-fold increase in area under paddy cultivation following good monsoon. It has gone up from 1.63 lakh hectares in 2015-16 to 5.48 lakh hectares in 2016-17, according to the latest figures available with the Agriculture Department.
Continuing despair for the farmersedit
The NDA government promised in the budget last year to double the incomes of the farmers by 2020. There was no improvement in the incomes of the farmers, however. Now, it has again promised to do the same by 2022 in the budget for 2017-18 presented earlier this month. This promise will meet the same fate as the previous one because the government refuses to even recognise, let alone solve the basic problem of the farmers.
Farmer suicides: Loans help widows become entrepreneursedit
Vibhatai Bhilkar, a widow of one of the thousands of farmers who committed suicide in Wardha district of Maharashtra, has successfully set up her grocery shop a year after her husband’s death. Similarly, Madhuri Bhotule, another widow from the state’s Yavatmal district set up a sprinkler set to facilitate irrigation for her a small piece of agricultural land she owns.