-The Hindu Farm distress is increasingly being triggered by excess output and falling prices, but policy fixes are yet to address this Why are Indian farmers perpetually in revolt? The question has been raised by many after the recent farmers’ march to Mumbai and simmering rebellions across the States in recent years. No doubt, agriculture is one segment of the economy on which vote-conscious governments haven’t skimped on outlays. Over the years, Central...

-The Hindu Farming must be treated as a market-based enterprise and made viable on its own terms The week-long farmers’ march which reached Mumbai earlier this month, on the anniversary of Gandhi’s Dandi March of 1930, was unprecedented in many ways. It was mostly silent and disciplined, mostly leaderless, non-disruptive and non-violent, and well organised. It received the sympathy of middle class city dwellers, food and water from bystanders, free medical services...

-Livemint.com The only way to solve the farmers’ problem is to make entry to other sectors attractive by creating employment opportunities, and to make it easy to exit farming Farmers have a bad romance with the Indian polity. On the one hand, India loves, even worships, these farmers. On the other, Indian policymakers create the most impossible regulatory environment for the agricultural sector, trapping farmers in a low-income, low-productivity occupation. The latest...

-PTI New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said the MSP for crops will be at least 1.5 times the production cost so as to boost farmers’ incomes and the Centre is working with states to ensure that they get the benefit of the support prices. He also said many people are spreading rumours regarding the minimum support price (MSP) and creating a gloomy atmosphere. He said all input costs would...

-PTI Mumbai: Farmers have "reclaimed" 125 acres in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district, claiming that bank fraud accused Nirav Modi had acquired their plots at prices below the market rate. A group of over 200 farmers, who arrived in bullock carts at Khandala in Karjat tehsil, symbolically reoccupied the land, ploughing a part of it using a tractor. The farmers said they would start cultivation on the entire tract soon. They said the plots had...