-Newsclick.in A country that ranks 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index can’t be said to be self-sufficient in foodgrains. The surplus stocks are due to shortage of purchasing power in peoples’ hands. The Indian intelligentsia has an incredible propensity to swallow the self-serving arguments of metropolitan capitalism that are typically supposed to constitute ‘economic wisdom’. And nowhere is this more evident than in the case of India’s food economy. There...

The World Economic Outlook – a bi-annual publication of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) -- released in October 2020 has anticipated that the economic progress made by the countries since the 1990s to reduce poverty would be turned upside down by the COVID-19 pandemic. On top of that, economic disparity would rise too in the post-COVID world because the crisis has disproportionately impacted women, informal sector workers and people with...

-The Indian Express Centre must make transparent efforts to push exports consistently and not follow the stop-go policy emanating from price controls for the Indian consumer market. The flashpoint between the agitating farmers and the central government is essentially rooted in the mismatch between the supply and demand for the wheat crop in India. The genesis of the current state of affairs stems from policies initiated over half a century ago when...

-The Hindu Government seeks more time to respond; more talks on December 9. After four hours of discussion with Central Ministers on the tenth day of their ongoing protests on the borders of Delhi, farmer leaders ran out of patience. Refusing to speak any further, they went on a 25-minute “maun vrat” or silent protest. Holding up impromptu placards with a short scribbled message, “Yes or No?”, they demanded that the government declare...

-Livemint.com Farmers from Punjab and Haryana are well prepared for a long haul after occupying highways leading to the national capital New Delhi: Hundreds of thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana have stationed themselves at Delhi’s doorstep leading to an unprecedented standoff between the centre and farmer unions. In the past few years, farmer protests in Delhi were largely a day or a two-day event packed with speeches demanding loan waivers...