In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-Press Release by Beej Adhikaar Manch dated 10th May, 2019 Activists point out that this is after all an undertaking given by all applicants to PPV&FR Authority for varietal registration “Government of India should proactively take up measures to uphold farmers’ rights – We will continue our public campaign to secure this” say farmers rights groups Ahmedabad / New Delhi, 10th May 2019: PepsiCo India Holdings Ltd, after having sought and obtained an...

-The Hindu Business Line Activists say the fight to establish farmers’ right to seeds will continue Ahmedabad: The battle of a multinational-versus-farmers over potato seeds came to an end on Friday, with PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd withdrawing cases against nine farmers filed in two Gujarat courts. On Friday, PepsiCo sought an early hearing in the cases of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) infringement and applied to withdraw the law suits. It had filed...

-Newsclick.in In an interview, the ‘father’ of India’s Green Revolution, says while technology is necessary, policies on procurement and public distribution are far more important in making agriculture economically viable and sustainable in the country. No one has played a more instrumental role in India’s self-sufficiency in food production than Dr MS Swaminathan — world-renowned agricultural scientist, known as the ‘Father of Green Revolution in India’. After getting a PhD from Cambridge...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...