-The Indian Express The crisis in the crop’s prices in two of the four years of the Modi government illustrate that farmers no longer matter to it. Farmers are habitually great raconteurs. My grandfather would often narrate an episode, when he encountered a farmer sitting by a heap of potatoes in the middle of the night. On investigating what compelled the farmer to guard potatoes when there were no buyers, he was...
More »SEARCH RESULT
What to expect in 2018 from the farm sector: prices could hold key to several political fortunes -Harish Damodaran & Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Agricultural prices crashed in April-June, just when a bumper rabi crop had been harvested after two years of drought, and despite demonetisation. 2017 was agriculture’s annus horribilis. The reason wasn’t monsoon failure (as in 2014 and 2015) or unseasonal rain and hail (as in March 2015); the year was, in fact, largely free of extreme weather events, resulting in a record output of wheat, pulses, cotton, potato and a...
More »Why are Indian farmers angry? -Dipti Jain and Tadit Kundu
-Livemint.com Rising input costs and lack of remunerative prices have turned the terms of trade against the Indian farmer While the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed to retain its stronghold of Gujarat in the recent state assembly elections, it conceded significant ground to the Congress in rural and semi-rural constituencies. The results bring to the fore the problem of rural discontent, as farmers intensify their protests against non-remunerative prices for their produce...
More »UP is Shifting the Burden of Inefficient Power Companies Onto its Most Disenfranchised Citizens -Kabir Agarwal
-TheWire.in While the hike in power prices will increase rural distress, many farmers believe the move is particularly cruel because the quality of rural power supply hasn’t improved. Garhmukteshwar (Uttar Pradesh): Voting in the civic polls of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-governed Uttar Pradesh (UP) concluded on November 29. A day later, a huge power tariff hike of up to 150% for rural consumers was announced in the state. While the tariff hike,...
More »Rural anti-incumbency is the key takeaway from the Gujarat results
-Hindustan Times Farm distress is not confined to Gujarat alone. The economic viability of farming is increasingly coming under stress. Uncertain rainfall and price fluctuations can make things even worse in bad years What is the biggest political economy takeaway from the 2017 Gujarat elections? The schism between India and Bharat is for real. The BJP’s victory is only due to its dominance in urban areas. The Congress has won a majority...
More »