-Business Standard Those who want to help India's farmers should be working much harder to figure out what they really need It’s election season in India and the money is flowing. Governments in many states have begun waiving tens of millions of dollars’ worth of loans to poor farmers in an effort to buy their loyalty. The argument – widely accepted by politicians and journalists, the demographic groups with the least fiscal...
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Why the farmer suicide debate is counter-productive to understanding India's agrarian crisis? -Roshan Kishore
-Hindustan Times In the discourse on agriculture, for instance, farmer suicides are cited as the biggest proof of the agrarian crisis in the country by a large section. India’s political economy discourse is often a prisoner of the dictum that when there is no theory, there is a conspiracy theory. Corruption, rather than an accentuated cyclical shock after the global financial crisis, combined with the poor governance structures in Indian...
More »In election year, farmer on centrestage -Harish Damodaran and Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express The new year could witness the first national elections being fought on farmers’ issues. And it could test both the ruling BJP pushed to the defensive, particularly in the larger sugar-producing states, and the Congress under pressure to deliver loan waivers If 2017 saw the beginnings of agrarian unrest in large swathes of the country, 2018 brought it centrestage as the numero uno political issue. And almost everyone’s...
More »Going Beyond Loan Waivers, Odisha Announces Farm Scheme Worth Rs 10,000 Crore
-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...
More »If you want to help farmers -Ashok Gulati & Prerna Terway
-The Indian Express Loan waivers are poll bait. What is needed is a structured and stable income support policy. The talk of the season on the farm front seems to be loan waivers. Farmer leaders are asking for it and those looking for power are ready to oblige. Newly elected chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan have all announced loan waivers within their promised time of 10 days. It...
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