-The Telegraph HINTERLAND: Our structural problem — small and marginal rain-fed sustenance farms, over 80 per cent of India’s agriculture sector — remains unaddressed Let’s understand the chronology: before the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi promised farmers that he would comply with the Swaminathan Commission formula to arrive at a minimum support price for farm produce: a 50 per cent profit over the production cost. Post elections, he reneged on the promise...
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Convergence of agrarian discontent in South Asia -Ahilan Kadirgamar and Hashim bin Rashid
-The Hindu With protests becoming catalysts for anti-authoritarian struggle, the air is ripe for new visions of rural emancipation Those familiar with the systematic attack on agriculture in South Asia over the last decades will not be surprised at the ongoing farmers’ protests in India. It could have been Pakistan, where farmers protesting for support prices were beaten up and arrested in Lahore only a month ago, or Sri Lanka, where shortages...
More »Condemning the new farm laws, Vikalp Sangam urges the government to help the country move towards a more sustainable, regenerative and diverse agricultural system
-Press release by Vikalp Sangam (vikalpsangam.org), dated 5th December, 2020 Vikalp Sangam (vikalpsangam.org) -- a conglomeration of 60+ active CSOs and members -- in its press release dated 5th December, 2020 has stated that the newly enacted farm laws of the Centre will lead to further land alienation (landlessness) and destitution of the peasantry because the laws permit, in thinly disguised form, the unsparing loot by the lobby of agri-businesses and...
More »Amid An Important Farmer Debate, Don't Forget the Woes of India's Landless Workers -Bharat Dogra
-TheWire.in While landless farm workers and landless peasants outnumber land-owning farmers, the former are almost entirely absent in the policy and policy-debates on farming. What is the most numerous segment of Indian society? Many people routinely believe that it is land-owning farmers. But no, the latest census data says that it is the rural landless who comprise the largest segment of our populace. At present, the latest census data we have is for...
More »State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020 reveal the vulnerabilities faced by Indian agriculture
-Press release by Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS), dated 30th November, 2020 The “State of Rural and Agrarian India Report 2020” was released by Dr. V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi today in an online webinar organised by the Network of Rural and Agrarian Studies (NRAS). This report is being brought out by the NRAS, which is a pan-India network of scholars, researchers, practitioners, farmers, students, and activists engaged...
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