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...

-The Hindu Business Line Working from a mud house in a remote Maharashtra village, Rahibai Popere is taking farming back to its roots Pune: Twenty years ago, when her grandson fell ill, Rahibai Popere was convinced vegetables and foodgrains containing ‘poison’ had made the child unhealthy. She asked her son to stop buying vegetables and foodgrains grown using hybrid seeds, chemicals and fertilisers. And then started a journey to conserve and save indigenous...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Will it be Telangana’s ‘Rythu Bandhu’ or Odisha’s ‘Kalia’ scheme which the Centre bets on in its much anticipated farm package ahead of general elections? Apart from these two schemes, the Centre is also looking at some proposals including area-based income compensation and waiving off premium for crop insurance and interest on loans for farmers who pay on time. The Centre’s farm options are due to...

-Focusweb.org The booklet entitled Politics of Seeds: Common Resources or a Private Property dated December, 2018: * deals with the role of World Bank in the Indian seed sector; * deals with Transformation of seeds from farm-saved traditional seed to monopolized GM seeds; * deals with IPRs and Patents on Seeds, and the threat under FTAs/ RCEP; * deals with major Seed legislations in India; and * presents the alternative in the form of seed conservation...

-News18.com Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods. Dismissing the buzz about imminent new initiatives...