-Hindustan Times An Indian farmer earned ₹27 per day on average from cultivation in 2018-19. This is less than what he would have earned doing MGNREGS work through the year. An Indian farmer earned ₹27 per day on average from cultivation in 2018-19. This is less than what he would have earned doing MGNREGS work through the year. These numbers underline the magnitude of the viability crisis in Indian agriculture. India’s inability to shift...

-Foundation of Agrarian Studies An influential section of Sri Lankan agricultural economists and scientists has deplored the recent course change in the country’s agricultural policy made by the Gotabaya Rajapaksa government. The decision by the government to ban the use and import of chemical fertilisers and pesticides in pursuit of a “100 per cent organic food producer” status for Sri Lanka has already had disastrous consequences for the economy of the...

-TheWire.in The ‘vikas’ train has begun to chug the wrong way, as it were. A worrisome aspect of the Indian economy is reflected in the share of employment in agriculture dramatically rising from 42.5% of the total employed in 2018-19 to 45.6% in 2019-20. This may signify an unusually large movement of labour from industry or services sectors to agriculture. The total number of persons employed in India varies between 400 million and...

-TheWire.in Protesting farmers believe that the MSP will as a legal right will solve a lot of farmers' issues, including debt. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy touting the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the Kisan Sansad (parallel parliament organised by farmers at Jantar Mantar) delved into a serious question – can the minimum support price (MSP) become a legal right? There were 200 new farmers’ representatives and six hours to...

-The Hindu Business Line As our governments think and rethink lockdown measures and scheme policy interventions, it is time we, as a society collective, pay attention to our children on the brink of irreversible damage What does it mean to lose one’s childhood to unsung labour? What is it like when books are replaced by bricks, playgrounds by agricultural fields, plastic toys with heavy-metal machines, alphabet recitations by silent cries of help?...