-The Tribune The economic argument in support of market reforms, claiming that farm incomes go up when the number of farmers recedes, has turned out to be untrue. America has lost more than 5 million farms in less than 100 years, and Australia 25 per cent of its farms between 1980 and 2002. The speed at which farmers across the globe have got out of agriculture hasn’t increased farm incomes, but...
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Beating down critical journalism, creative freedom -Sukumar Muralidharan
-The Hindu The curious deference of the judiciary is part of the precariousness of the rights to freedom in India today Rioting in India’s capital city on a day reserved for the celebration of the Republic, was a new low in unravelling political concord. Within days of that trauma, points of entry into Delhi were barricaded with layers of concrete and steel, interwoven with vicious spools of concertina wire. Some locations had...
More »Future of Indian agriculture and small farmers: Role of policy, regulation and farmer agency -Sukhpal Singh
-Down to Earth blog The distress among small farmers in India is market-driven to a large extent in both ways — too much protection (minimum support price) or too little. The question of future of Indian agriculture has been around for some time now since the agrarian distress and crisis in the sector. It has become important in the context of the spate of recent reforms that include permitting private wholesale markets,...
More »In agri-credit, small farmers are still outside the fence -AS Mittal
-The Hindu The agriculture sector’s performance has not been commensurate with the increasing subsidised credit it receives Farmers on the warpath would mean that agriculture reforms have again occupied centrestage not just in the minds of the politicians but also policymakers. To enable small farmers to diversify their crops or improve their income they must have access to credit at reasonable rates of interest. This has been an agenda of the triad...
More »Strengthening the MSP System -MS Sriram
-Newsclick.in The MSP system has long been the central topic of discussion in Agricultural Reforms. The MSP system has long been the central topic of discussion in Agricultural Reforms. Demystifying its pros and cons, PROF M S SRIRAM writes on what we can learn and do to make MSP an effective mechanism that empowers farmers. ARGUMENTS against a statutory minimum support price (MSP) have hovered around the following lines: The MSP benefits only a...
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