-TheWire.in With the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation scheme, Naveen Patnaik has likely scored an electoral point over the BJP and Congress. New Delhi: Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik – who is seeking a record fifth term in office – introduced a farming assistance scheme worth more than Rs 10,000 crore on December 21. Believed by many to be a measure to counter the larger political rhetoric around farm loan...

-Economic and Political Weekly India is witnessing a new wave of agrarian protest. Grounded in a deep crisis in the country's agricultural sector, these protests express a deep sense of disappointment in the economic policies of the Modi regime. This article discusses how the new agrarian struggle should be understood as a symptom of the disintegration of the Modi regime's project of authoritarian populism. However, the author proposes that addressing India's...

-The Indian Express New GDP back series does what the government needs it to — shows that growth during its term has been higher than during the UPA regime. Controversy over the growth performance of the Indian economy took another turn with The Indian Express breaking the story about Niti Aayog not allowing the back series to be announced three years back because it showed a higher growth rate during the...

-The Telegraph In the long term, the only real solution to rural distress is to shift labour to more productive segments of the economy It has turned into an open season for farm loan waivers. Less than a week after assuming office, Congress governments in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have announced the waiver of crop loans up to two lakh rupees per farmer. The Congress president, Rahul Gandhi, has thrown down...

-Livemint.com Loan waivers and the promise to raise MSP cannot solve the problem The victory of Congress party in the recent assembly elections of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan has brought the agrarian crisis in rural areas to the centre of political debate. While there are several factors in election victories, the severity of the agrarian unrest was surely a major factor. While there is consensus that the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party...