-Down to Earth Can pre-poll sops like giving smart phones with internet connectivity to farmers increase farm income? Last week, thousands of farmers and agricultural workers poured into the National Capital to attract and focus the attention of the Central government to their demands. The Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Rally, organised by farmers’ organization, All India Kisan Sabha, and the All India Agriculture Workers Union, broke all records as far as crowd numbers...

-TheWire.in Organised by the All India Kisan Sabha, the farmers' and workers' demands range from an upward revision of minimum wages to remunerative prices for peasants. New Delhi: On August 29, Vijoo Krishnan, joint secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), was nervous. He reached the Ramlila Maidan in the evening and found it almost entirely submerged under water due to consistent rainfall and poor drainage mechanisms. “I thought to myself,...

-TheWire.in Mexican economist David Barkin on India's neoliberal economics, growing inequalities, agrarian distress and more. David Barkin is Professor of Economics at the Metropolitan Autonomous University in Mexico City. He received his doctorate in economics from Yale University and was awarded the National Prize in Political Economics in 1979 for his analysis of inflation in Mexico. His research has focused on the development of an alternative to the capitalist economic model. In an...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Prices of farm produce remained high and stocks of vegetables and milk precarious in cities across northern and central India as the ongoing farmers' strike across several states entered its fourth day. The June 1-10 boycott of wholesale markets - called "Gaon Bandh" or "Kisan Avkaash" - has been called by 172 farmer organisations in eight states to demand minimum support prices at one-and-a-half times the cost of...

-The Telegraph Ludhiana: Six peasant bodies in Punjab on Monday said they would walk out of the ongoing 10-day farmers' strike across several states following reports about minor clashes between some protesters and milkmen over the past two days. The associations said they would discontinue their participation in the June 1-10 agitation from Wednesday onwards to avoid dispute. "The protests have been peaceful so far. In several places farmers set up shops to...