Knee-jerk response: Supplement farm incomes to relieve rural distress

Regardless of the outcome of the Maharashtra farmers' agitation, farm distress is a reality that cuts across states and needs to be addressed ardently

The Maharashtra government has managed to defuse the farmers’ stir that was marked by an arduous 180-km long march from Nashik to Mumbai, by conceding most of their demands. But the fulfilment of these commitments is unlikely to be easy. Only some of the accepted demands seem readily implementable, and that too at a heavy cost to the exchequer. The others are more intricate and may face snags. The easily doable ones include providing ownership rights of community or forest land to tribals who are already tilling it; higher compensation for crop losses due to pests and hailstorms; and no