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, …
The recent spate of farmer's suicides in Vidharbha have once again thrown the spotlight on faultlines in Indian agriculture. Farmer's suicides are, of course, not the only indicators of agrarian distress. But they do bring into sharp focus how the rural credit system
The trend of cotton farmers' suicides in Vidarbha keeps showing an upward spike since prime minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the area in early July and the announcement of a package for the beleaguered people. September saw 116 farmers committing suicide in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. This surpasses the …
"Sarita's away in Warangal,' Parvata Reddy told HRK. It was past 7 pm, and villagers tend to be suspicious of strangers who walk out of the dark. I moved to a well-lit portion of the courtyard. He looked closely. Better sight led to better memory. He recalled meeting me two …
it has been less than two months since prime minister Manmohan Singh visited Vidarbha, Maharashtra's cotton country, with a special package for the beleaguered farmers. Since then 200 more farmers have committed suicide across the 12 districts of the region, 110 in August alone, which is the highest recorded monthly …
"The Constitution guarantees the right to life and to personal liberty. The values which underlie Article 21 of the Constitution are seriously eroded by deaths on such a systemic scale, as the facts before the court in relation to the State of Maharashtra demonstrate... . The suicides that have occurred …
WHILE writing out the receipt for Pandurang Kadam's onion crop on April 19, the trader did not realise that it would be used as forensic evidence. The next day Pandurang returned to the Lasalgaon market and set himself on fire. The town watched in shock as Pandurang burned in the …
SIX months ago, 65-year-old Kashinath Ravan Kolge killed himself by drinking pesticide. His wife Venubai Kolge says mounting debt drove him to suicide. "He had taken a loan to dig a borewell. But we did not get any water. We had no money left. The crops were yielding very little. …
function graph() { var popurl="image/20060331/33_graph.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=500,height=300,scrollbars=yes") } Tangled web Vidarbha cotton farmers hit by state failure The number of suicides by cotton farmers in Vidarbha has risen alarmingly this cotton season (see graph: Suicide spike).This is not just a consequence of increasing input costs, water scarcity and the high interest …
"Kidney Sale Centre," proclaims a banner sprawled across a ramshackle bamboo tent at Shingnapur village in Amravati district of Maharashtra. The farmers here are threatening to sell their kidneys. "We have invited the Prime Minister and the President to inaugurate this kidney shop. They should allow us to sell our …
"WHY else do you think people who barely get enough to eat, who don't even earn Rs.50 a day, have borrowed money to come for this rally?" asked D.P. Vishe, a farmer from Shahpur in Thane district, Maharashtra. "Because this is the only hope we have left. To come together …
This paper has three parts: The first, an analysis of 192 news reports in a Marathi daily, Deshonnati, cites 320 cases of farmers’ suicides in Maharashtra reported during 2004. A study of circumstances reveals multiple risk factors – economic downfall, agrarian crisis, and social disgrace among others. Indebtedness, a manifestation …
• A report found that 12 months after a ban on smoking in bars in New Zealand, there were no downturn in bar sales, tourism or employment, contrary to predictions of serious economic consequences to the hospital industry following the ban. • The Center for Biological Diversity recently filed a …
Notwithstanding the legislative provisions to safeguard their landed interests, tribals are getting driven to circumstances in which retaining hold over the land under their possession is becoming difficult. The quality of land held by them is so poor that, in its present form, it cannot promise them any reasonable returns. …
Punjab peasantry is in the clutches of severe indebtedness. To overcome the problem of debt trap, effective measures should be taken by the government, social organisations and farming community. The government should exercise a strong check on the activities on non-institutional credit agencies and provide institutional credit facilities to the …
One of the serious and unrelenting problems faced by the Indian farmers households has been indebtedness. Despite substantial improvement in agricultural output as well as distribution of credit through institutional sources since the introduction of the new agricultural technology, indebtedness among the farmers households is found to be widespread even …
The Vidarbha region of Maharashtra sees a spate of suicides by farmers, but the State's Agriculture Minister denies any connection between these incidents and government policy. JUST before the monsoon, farmers in Vidarbha arrange frog weddings to welcome the rain god. Villagers make one male and one female frog pose …
the film title Harvesting Hunger chills one to the bones and the film itself is a despondent tale of the agricultural scenario in the country. "It is apprehended that millions may go hungry in this decade. Harvesting Hunger is a journey into this world of hunger, famine and food insecurity,' …
South Africa and Namibia have rejected an offer of the us to provide financial assistance for purchasing anti- aids drugs. A total of us $1 billion was offered by the us Export-Import Bank to 24 sub-Saharan countries in annual loans. Bank officials said that till now none of the countries …
