-IndiaSpend.com To fight hunger and distress due to the pandemic, India must universalise foodgrain distribution, expand the food basket in its rations scheme and provide cash transfers, activist Anjali Bhardwaj tells us in this interview Bengaluru: The pandemic-induced lockdowns have had a profound impact on livelihoods, affecting poor Indians' food intake, studies show. In October 2020, more than half the respondents of a Hunger Survey said their rice/wheat consumption had declined during...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural economy run in the state. But...

-Livemint.com Wide disparities in agri-marketing regulations have resulted in fragmented markets across states. The new farm bills aim to change this but the jury is still out on whether it will have the intended impact. On 26 September, government procurement of food crops commenced across the country, five days in advance, following the enactment of three contentious farm bills. Under the new policy regime, farmers need not sell their produce through designated...

-Hindustan Times The Shiromani Akali Dal will observe a three-hour chakka jam across Punjab from 11am to 2pm in all constituencies. Over two dozens farmers’ organizations from all across the country, supported by 18 political parties including the Congress, take to the streets on Friday protesting the farm bills passed by Parliament. Punjab and Haryana will be the epicentre of the protests, though the demand for legal guarantee of minimum support prices...

-TheWire.in Farmers fear that the MSP regime will fall by the wayside and want it to be made a legal right. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to farmers across the country to ‘beware’ and not get swayed by ‘misinformation’ that they will not get fair prices for their crops. Over the last few weeks, farmers – largely in the states of Haryana and Punjab – have been protesting three agriculture ordinances...