-The Indian Express For a healthy agrarian sector, the state must strengthen and protect the position of the cultivator. As long as land acquisition continues at its current pace, there is little chance of that happening. As farmers from Punjab and Haryana force the central government into unconditional talks, demanding nothing less than a repeal of the three new farm laws, the BJP-led NDA government insists the reforms are “farmer-friendly”. The farm...
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Farmers’ protest questions reform that promotes efficiency of agriculture, not well-being of agriculturists -Pramod Kumar
-The Indian Express No doubt, with these laws, agricultural operations may become more efficient, but they threaten to lead to the marginalisation of the farmers. In other words, agriculture may flourish, but agriculturists could perish. The farmers’ agitation is unique in many ways. One, it is a coming together of 31 ideologically competing organisations. Two, it has successfully purged itself of the influence and interference of the established political parties as reflected...
More »Bihar scrapped APMC Act, mandi system 14 years ago; here’s what it did to farmers -CK Manoj
-Down to Earth Why are farmers protesting the government’s ’reforms’, ask many. A look at how Bihar’s farmers have fared may explain The recent controversy about India’s newly minted farm laws have brought back into focus what Nitish Kumar did a decade-and-a-half ago: Shutting down the mandi (wholesale markets for agricultural produce) system in 2006. The much-touted ‘reform’ has impacted the state’s farmers, and not in a good way. Farmers have had to...
More »The Agrarian Crisis in Punjab and the Making of the Anti-Farm Law Protests -Shreya Sinha
-TheIndiaForum.in The protests in Punjab are happening at a time when the agrarian economy is under stress. With increasing uncertainty, previously antagonistic groups across classes, castes & gender are coming closer, building a broader base for the agitation & beyond. Punjab’s farmers have been unrelenting in their opposition to the new farm laws passed in September. Their sustained and creative opposition continues to make headlines. The central government too remains adamant and...
More »In farmers’ protests, the core is procurement -CSC Sekhar
-The Hindu Farmers of Punjab and Haryana need the MSP-procurement system, but the government needs it even more for the PDS Farmers’ protests have erupted once again in north India. The farmers’ unions want nothing short of a complete withdrawal of the recently enacted Farm Acts, which they claim will ruin small and marginal farmers. Their main worry is about a possible withdrawal of the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and a dismantling...
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