-ThePrint.in Prior to 2014, Indian farmers mostly organised small protests at the state or local level. Modi govt’s inactions on its promises made farmers go national. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, Narendra Modi promised to increase farmers’ income. Yet after coming to power, his government did little towards this promise throughout its first tenure. Recently, however, the Modi government passed three “historic” bills purported to alleviate the woes of India’s...

-The Hindu Securing largely upper caste-OBC alliances has propelled the BJP to great heights and has also impacted Dalit Politics Political alignments in Bihar for the forthcoming elections offer a peek into the various ways the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) constructs its electoral building blocks. Taking into consideration the specificities of each State, the NDA has been able to secure the votes of the upper castes as well as large sections...

-TheWire.in In conversation with Avik Saha, co-founder of the Swaraj Abhiyan. New Delhi: As the Lok Sabha passed three controversial agricultural legislations, the country witnessed an outpouring of anger by the opposition parties, who alleged these bills are “anti-farmer”. Farmers and traders have been vehemently opposing the new changes brought in by the Central government, alleging the government wants to discontinue the minimum support price (MSP) regime in the name of reforms. Minister of...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the persistent digital divide afflicting rural India owing to poor and insufficient internet connectivity. With the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech acknowledging the need ‘to complete’ internet connectivity to villages, there is a renewed vigour and interest in the National Optic Fibre Network (NOFN)/BharatNet project. An important question to pose when translating policy to project is: when should...

-TheWire.in While self-sufficiency has been baked into how India has historically looked at the agriculture sector, long-term planning is the need of the hour. In his address to the nation on May 12, 2020, the Prime Minister gave a call for Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. He said that the state of the world today teaches us that an Atmanirbhar Bharat is the only path and our scriptures mention eshah panthah, self-sufficient India. For agriculture,...