-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...
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Why should Indian agriculture be liberalised when in most countries governments subsidise it? -Christophe Jaffrelot and Hemal Thakker
-The Indian Express Without some support from the state, the smallest of Indian peasants would be even more vulnerable. On September 27, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to three contentious farm bills passed by Parliament — The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 (FAPAFS), the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 (FPTC) and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020...
More »Questionable data, little room for exuberance -R Nagaraj
-The Hindu Using the latest quarterly estimates to point to an economic rebound seems flawed; recovery is likely to remain modest The decline in the quarterly GDP growth rate, by 7.5% during July-September 2020 (FY 2020-21: Q2), compared to a 24% decline in the first quarter has raised expectations of a sharp economic recovery after the novel coronavirus pandemic and the national lockdown. But is such optimism justified? A tracker India’s GDP at current...
More »The Honey Trap -Amit Khurana, Arnab Pratim Dutta and Sonal Dhingra
-Down to Earth Investigation into the business of adulteration of honey This story begins in the mustard fields of north India where beekeepers are getting ready for the next honey season. When the yellow flowers are in bloom, the bees suck the nectar and bring us goodness in the form of honey, which we then consume because of its many beneficial properties. We were alerted that beekeepers from this region and other...
More »‘Shame on the media’: Why protesting farmers are angry with the news coverage -Vijayta Lalwani
-Scroll.in Indians are not being given the information they need to really understand why farmers are angry about the new agricultural laws, they say. Fifty-eight-year-old Jasbeer Singh listed the names of the places in Haryana where he had to negotiate police barriers before finally arriving at the state’s Singhu border with Delhi as he travelled from his home in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib district about 250 km away. Shambhu, between Punjab and Haryana, had...
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