In 2024, global employment expanded in line with a growing labour force, keeping the global unemployment rate steady at 5 per cent, similar to that of 2023. Slowing productivity growth remains a major bottleneck with respect to expanding the opportunities for decent work. On the back of stable unemployment rates, …
Andhra Pradesh has been galloping ahead on the road to progress and prosperity at incredible speed in the last four years. Till 2004... every other day, the State had to depend on overdrafts on the RBI to meet its commitments including clearance of bills and payment of salaries. Large sections …
The Union Minister for Panchayati Raj, Mani Shankar Aiyar, was recently in Nagpur to attend a conference. He volunteered to visit Koljhari, Bodhbadhan and Waiphad villages that witnessed many farmer suicides. At Waiphad, he met with a group of farmers and farm labourers who were eager to talk to him. …
by the time a copy of this magazine reaches you, the finance minister would would have presented the Union Budget in Parliament. The details of the Rs 32,000-crore debt relief package
Budget 2008 may have rehab cess for stressed farmers With a spate of assembly elections scheduled during this year, the United Progressive Alliance (upa) government has finally decided to address an issue that could become a political albatross around its neck. With mounting farmers' suicides continuing to grip the attention …
The Finance Minister, in his Budget Speech for 2008-2009, announced a Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme for farmers. The Scheme will cover direct agricultural loans extended to ‘marginal and small farmers’ and ‘other farmers’ by Scheduled Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Cooperative Credit Institutions (including Urban Cooperative Banks) and …
In recent years, one observes an increasing incidence of farmers' suicides. A relatively higher suicide among farmers is indicative of a larger malaise in agriculture. There are twin dimensions to this crisis in agriculture: an agrarian crisis which threatens the livelihood of those dependent on agriculture, particularly the small and …
The chief of Zimbabwe's national broadcast body has admitted that there is political interference in editorial policy. "We have been reporting on the basis of deception,' said Henry Muradzikwa, appearing before a parliamentary committee on transport and communications. Zimbabwe Broadcast Holding's (zbh's) boss also told the committee hearing that reporters …
"Why shouldn't salt-making be classed as agriculture?' asks R Potharaju. "Both require land, water and sunshine, and are subject to vagaries of nature,' he reasons. Potharaju is convenor of the Prakasam District Salt Farmers Forum. The forum believes that an official categorisation as agriculture would take care of the many …
fuel crisis in nepal: As India curtails oil supplies to Nepal, financially bankrupt Nepal Oil Corporation (NOC) has sought a Nepali Rs one-billion loan from its government to partially clear the mounting dues. In a letter to ministries of supplies and finance, the state-owned company requested for funds to avert …
afghan debt relief: Afghanistan was recently granted interim debt relief meant for impoverished countries with heavy debt. Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative, Afghanistan will now have its net public and private debt payments cut by 51 per cent so that more funds can be utilised for healthcare, education …
In 2002-2004, Karnataka's S.M. Krishna government blamed farmers' suicides on alcoholism and gambling. This time around, the authorities cannot ignore the bitter harvest and its aftermath. In Bidar district alone, 48 farmers have killed themselves since July 2006. All of them were sugarcane cultivators. .News of suicides is trickling in …
The recently completed assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh witnessed an unprecedented public practise. In the drought-stricken Bundelkhand region, voters asked the candidates to take a written test on the problems of the region. Called
Kundan Lal and his master struck a deal. Lal, the master agreed, could go home to see his ailing wife in Dehradun's Bhatad village. In exchange, he demanded the services of Lal's son and daughter-in-law. Lal explains that someone has to compensate for his absence at his malik's (master's) field. …
In rural Vidharbha, theatre is thriving probably because of a play that has struck chord with agriculturists here. Called Atma Hatya, the play has drawn daily audiences in excess of 5,000. "We have farmers, tailors, painters and vendors in our plays,' says Ghulam Sufi of the Venkatesh natya mandali that …
It is election time in Punjab. Every body has started talking about development. The word Development has become a major issue. Election manifestos are painting a rosy picture of a Developed Punjab. But, none of them is kind enough to tell what will be cost of this development? And who …
It was the year rural India's agony gnawed at the conscience of the Government after farmers took desperate measures to voice their plight. Over 8,000 farmers committed suicide in the last decade due to repeated crop failures, inability to meet the rising cost of cultivation, and indebtedness. Fed up with …
India has toppled the us to become the second largest producer of cotton, after China, states the cotton fiscal of 2006-2007. Statistics also show that by October-end, the annual cotton farmers' suicide-mark has crossed 1,000. But the why behind suicides
Small and marginal farmers are the worst hit by the problems that afflict agriculture. The macro and micro level factors together have created stress among the poor farmers forcing them to commit suicide.
