-The Indian Express Thermal plants shut down, leading to power cuts, raw material supply cut off to industry, movement of food grains hit Chandigarh: SUSPENSION OF railway traffic to Punjab since September 24 amid the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s farm laws has left the state gasping for power, fertilisers and raw material for industry and gunny bags for paddy procurement, besides BRInging to a halt the movement of food grains and...

-The Indian Express A collective of NREGA women activists discovers its political voice. As Jean Dreze recently observed, one of the key ideas behind NREGA was that it would serve as a platform for increasing the overall political capacities of workers. It was hoped that people would organise themselves to collectively demand work and, in the process, learn about other legal and constitutional provisions. While learning about the latter has been patchy,...

-Financial Express The current guidelines may not inspire confidence among farmers on entering into collective enterprises. Prime minister Narendra Modi, in his address commemorating 75 years of the UN’s FAO, reiterated India’s commitment to enhance its farmers’ income. He also reiterated the resolve to create 10,000 additional Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), one of the main pillars in the proposed transformation of the agri-economy. Will his futuristic vision result in creation of successful...

-NetworkIdeas.org The International Labour Organization (ILO) has for some months been BRInging out a report that monitors the impact of the pandemic on the world economy, especially the labour-hours lost because of the lockdown and their ramifications. The statistics it provides are not compilations of official data from different countries; they are based on the ILO’s own estimates made with whatever information is available from these countries. One cannot say how...

-Business Standard Rajasthan has amended The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (promotion and facilitation) Act, 2020 to restore what it calls 'the safeguards for the farmers of the state' as under state's APMC Act The Congress-ruled states’ plan to nullify the three central laws on agricultural markets and provide for alternatives of their own for protection of famer interest, especially on prices for their produce has been executed with three states of...