-Society for Social and Economic Research The economic reforms which were started in 1991 shifted the focus of fertilizer policies away from playing a leading role in building the fertilizer industry and ensuring the availability of fertilizers at affordable prices to Farmers. Under the neo-liberal policy framework, reducing the fiscal burden of fertilizer subsidies and the foreign exchange burden of fertilizer-related imports became the overriding concerns of the state.  Interestingly, the post-liberalisation...

-The Hindu Business Line All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), welcomed the four farm legislations passed by the Punjab Assembly and urged all other States to follow the model so that the Centre’s three farm laws can be nullified. AIKS General Secretary and senior CPI(M) leader Hannan Mollah said the States and the Centre should enact a law promoting “Peasant-Worker Social Cooperatives” against corporatisation of agriculture. He said the passage of the Bills...

-The Indian Express An opportunity has been lost in the lackadaisical handling of the issue. When the establishment ignores the historical context and the emotional component underlying any debate, mass protests can erupt to potentially shape the future. The people of Punjab would not have wanted a confrontation with the Union government, neither would I want to put it so bluntly, but around us, agitated Farmers, with a strong common purpose, are...

-The Indian Express The ingenious plan, a brainchild of state Finance Minister TM Thomas Isaac, was formally rolled out earlier this week in Meenangadi, a panchayat of 33,000 people curled up in the Western Ghats hills in Wayanad district. Kochi: In a bid to encourage planting and preserving trees and thereby reduce carbon footprint, a village in Kerala has kickstarted a project that will allow Farmers to mortgage the trees on their...

-Business Standard The MSP is declared for 23 crops. This means that Farmers of other crops or those trying to diversify under contract farming would not have the MSP protection of the Bills Much was made of the Punjab government’s plan to reject the three central laws on agri markets and provide its own protection to famers, especially on prices for their produce. But, the two Bills presented in the state legislature...