-The Indian Express The new year could witness the first national elections being fought on farmers’ issues. And it could test both the ruling BJP pushed to the defensive, particularly in the larger sugar-producing states, and the Congress under pressure to deliver loan waivers If 2017 saw the beginnings of agrarian unrest in large swathes of the country, 2018 brought it centrestage as the numero uno political issue. And almost everyone’s...
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The political economy of the persistent agrarian crisis -Himanshu
-Livemint.com Loan waivers and the promise to raise MSP cannot solve the problem The victory of Congress party in the recent assembly elections of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has brought the agrarian crisis in rural areas to the centre of political debate. While there are several factors in election victories, the severity of the agrarian unrest was surely a major factor. While there is consensus that the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party...
More »Costlier food, fuel push Sep wholesale inflation to 2-month high of 5.13%
-PTI Inflation in 'fuel and power' basket in September was 16.65 per cent Inflation based on wholesale prices rose to a two-month high of 5.13 per cent in September, mainly due to hardening of food prices and rise in cost of petrol and diesel. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation stood at 4.53 per cent in August and 3.14 per cent in September last year. According to the government data released Monday, food...
More »1,648 people died every year during 1953-2016 due to floods or heavy showers, shows recent CWC data
The Central Water Commission (CWC) has released the state-wise and national-level annual data on human and economic costs associated with floods or excessive rainfall for the last 64 years at a time when the North East is devastated by nature's fury. That data indicates that on an average 3.2 crore Indians were affected by floods or excessive rainfall every year between 1953 and 2016. Floods or downpours took a heavy toll...
More »Lower returns on produce behind farmers' distress -Roshan Kishore
-Hindustan Times Profitability takes a hit as real MSPs have not risen over the years New Delhi: Most commentary around rural anger in India has been focused on either the sector’s growth performance or government spending on agriculture. Such analysis is likely to present an incomplete picture at best. Government spending on agriculture is a small fraction of the total agricultural economic output. In 2017-18, the ministry of agriculture’s spending was less...
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