A Good Monsoon Is Little Comfort for Despairing Indian Farmers
- Government’s inflation control policy curbs farmers’ income
- States under pressure to grant millions in rural debt relief
Workers plant paddy seedlings in a field on the outskirts of Amritsar, India on Jun 14.
Photographer: /Hindustan Times via Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
As monsoon rains move across India -- usually a boom time for the agriculture sector -- farmers have left their land and taken to the streets amid growing anger over falling food prices and high debts.
With protests spreading around the country, the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is under pressure to provide more incentives. A drop in food prices spurred deadly clashes last week, while India’s food inflation fell into negative territory, dropping 1.05 percent from a 0.61 percent rise in April, data on Monday showed.