-Countercurrents.org Real life has a way of surprising theory. One of the most intensely discussed theoretical questions on the Left has been how to bring agricultural labourers and peasants, including well-to-do peasants, together in a common struggle against landlord domination in India’s countryside. Numerous Marxist gatherings have for years discussed the contradiction between peasants and labourers holding up a decisive resolution of the contradiction between the landlords and the rest of...

-Outlook India Women farmers in Himachal Pradesh are pioneering new all-natural farming techniques under the state government's 'Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)' drive. 50-year-old Satya Devi practised her Traditional farm operations using chemicals, sprays, fertilizers and pesticides. But despite using the best marketing practices. She wasn’t able to make much money or save due to high farm input costs. In 2018, Satya Devi switched over to Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF)—a drive launched...

The newly released Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India (NSS 77th Round) establishes the fact that the farm households are more and more relying on wage incomes instead of 'net incomes from crop cultivation' for their livelihoods. In Marxian lexicon, proletarisation (a term that we can loosely use for depeasantisation) refers to the process in which the farmers/ tillers are...

-The Hindu * Why did the government file an affidavit in the Supreme Court regarding the caste census? What is the status of the data collected under the SECC-2011 census? The story so far: In an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court on September 23, the Union government has categorically ruled out conducting a Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), stating that a caste census (except that for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes...

-Down to Earth These Traditional varieties of rice are on the verge of extinction from farm fields As many as 12 folk varieties of Indian rice examined by researchers can supplement the nutritional demand of important fatty acids in undernourished mothers, a recent study has claimed. These can further supplement the arachidonic acid (ARA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in neonates through breast-feeding. DHA and ARA are fatty acids found in breast milk, as...