-The Indian Express Along with cancellation of the three farm laws, making MSP legal for all crops is another major demand of the farmers protesting at the Delhi border. Jalandhar: While the Centre has been claiming that making Minimum Support Price (MSP) legal for all crops will put a burden of Rs 17 lakh crore on the government exchequer annually, there are economists and experts who are not buying this argument. The MSP...

-The Hindu “Many States make tall claims.., but these are far from truth” The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has recommended action against government officials responsible for incorrectly reporting the number of manual scavengers in the country, it said in a statement on Monday. At a regional workshop for government and civil society organised by the Commission on December 18 to discuss the challenges of eradicating manual scavenging, “it was strongly felt... that...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural economy run in the state. But...

-The Indian Express The Centre is within its rights to enact laws promoting barrier-free trade of farm produce (inter- as well as intra-state) and also dismantling stockholding restrictions. But that can be only after the farmer has sold. In November 2019, the Fifteenth Finance Commission submitted its interim report, wherein it proposed special “performance based incentives” to states that carried out agriculture sector reforms. These reforms specifically pertained to their enacting and implementing...

-TheWire.in The finance ministry had said, "Market fee is not a tax and the concerned APMC provides facilities in mandis in exchange for the amount." New Delhi: Amid the raging protests against the disputed agrarian laws passed by the Centre, a far more widespread and deeper controversy has emerged over the taxes levied across state agricultural markets. Members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have been criticising the Agricultural Produce Market Committee tax...