Maharashtra farmers demand better price. Chief minister offers aid package

Protests and agitation by Maharashtra farmers demanding better price for their farm produce seem to have gone in vain. Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan evaded the issue of raising minimum support price for cotton, soybean and paddy in the ongoing winter session of the the Legislative Assembly in Nagpur. Instead, he announced a Rs 2,000 crore aid package on December14.  Under the package, farmers from Vidarbha, Marathwada and north Maharashtra regions, who have lost cotton, soybean or paddy crops will be given hectare-wise aid, though, the exact amount of aid and mode of disbursal will be announced in a government resolution (GR) on the last day of the Assembly session.