-The Hindu Discontent over the new farm laws is a result of sidestepping debate and discussion in Parliament The ongoing farmers’ agitation epitomises the need to have detailed discussions and consultations while making law and policy. The process of building consensus and addressing concerns may be time-consuming, but it leads to greater acceptance of policy objectives. While such work has to be done at multiple levels, Parliament is perhaps the most important...

-The Hindu The circumstances under which New Delhi had distanced itself from the RCEP negotiations have hardly improved Last week, 15 East Asian countries agreed to take their economic integration several notches higher by forging the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the largest free trade agreement (FTA) ever. In 2019, RCEP members accounted for about 30% of world output and population and 28% of world trade. But more importantly, about 44% of...

-CivilSocietyOnline.com When millions of workers literally burst on to the scene during the sudden lockdown in India, the entire country was shocked by how vulnerable they seemed. They didn’t have housing, savings, healthcare and rights as employees. In their large numbers, they accounted for the majority of the workforce and yet there was no one to speak for them. The lockdown was expected to be a watershed moment because of this unsettling...

-The Tribune With APMC markets heading towards a collapse, the new set of reforms is aimed at encouraging corporatisation, with big business moving into agriculture, storage and marketing. As the experience of US/Europe shows, when unregulated markets become dominant, small farmers are the first to be pushed out of agriculture. Reiterating what former US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz (during Ronald Reagan’s rule) had declared: “Get big or get out,” Sonny Perdue, US...

-IndiaToday.in The Modi govt has told Parliament it does not have data of migrant workers who died during the lockdown. India Today sheds light on data documenting those who died while desperately trying to reach their homes. While presenting the Union Budget 2020 in Parliament on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined the importance of data and said that in order to meet challenges of real-time monitoring of India's increasingly complex...