Caption: The Vasavi Fertiliser Depot in Warangal District of Andhra Pradesh, sells one of the most expensive investments in agriculture – seeds. © Surya Sen

Caption: Subsidies aren't enough. Farmers have to buy a major chunk of their requirements from privately owned shops, where their expenses are substantially higher. © Surya Sen

Down To Earth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7.

Caption: At a mandal office of Obuladevara Chervu, Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, farmers queue for groundnut seeds. Each farmer can get a maximum 120kg of seed, this is not enough. Each hectare of land requires 144kg.  In many such offices, agricultural officers have been beaten up for lack of subsidised seeds. © Surya Sen

Down To Earth: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6.

Caption: For the debt-ridden farmers of Andhra Pradesh, buying seeds is expensive yet inevitable. © Surya Sen

Those of you who visit the site and not just get an update via email will find a few changes. First off is the space to the right for Paid Advertisers. India New England is a great little newspaper out of Boston run now by Poornima Apte. If you are thinking of freelancing in the North East that may be a paper for you to consider. The advertisement right below that is for Shaadi.com. Looking for the ONE? Well, give Shaadi.com a try. Click the link on my site and register for the service so that I know it works.

The big question is why – well, it's a no brainer. I spend a great deal of time on this site but it is expensive to run. Advertising is the only way to go for me to recover some of the costs. I will try and limit animated advertisements as much as I can. Personally, an image that twitches uncontrollably on a page simply must go, but the kind folks at Shaadi.com only have those types of advertisements available to me (now).

Lastly is a new feature called Tiffinbooks. After adding a zillion books to the left and right sides of this site and then taking them all away because they just seemed to clutter the site up even more, I am back to displaying only one featured book each month. This month it is Pooja Makhijani‘s book. Please click the link to buy the book and visit her lovely web site as well.

And, oh yes, if you know anyone who is looking to reach a staggering number of readers (hey, details only if you are serious), then I can clear some real estate for each advertisement at $50/month.

If India New England and Shaadi.com can do it, how about you?