-The Indian Express Considering the critical importance of agriculture for livelihoods, health, food security, and also keeping in mind the vulnerability of Indian farmers, it is necessary to go beyond reductionist expediency in considering agricultural reforms. In his speech on December 25, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the three controversial farm laws will finally deliver justice to the vast majority of small farmers who have been ignored by successive governments. As...

-Newsclick.in No scheme touches them, no law reaches them – but they hope that a better deal for farmers will benefit them. At the Ghazipur border between Delhi and Uttar Pradesh, Manish and a few of his friends have joined the farmers’ dharna only a few days back. They live in Baghpat district, barely a few dozen kilometres from the protest site but it could be another continent, or another age. “In the...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural economy run in the state. But...

-The Indian Express If we truly want to ensure the livelihoods of our farmers and provide safe, healthy, nutritious food for our consumers, it is imperative to make policies that go beyond the productivity trope and populist posturing. Proponents of the three new farm laws have claimed that they will engender competition in agricultural markets and will give farmers a choice to sell wherever they like. The opponents of these laws, including...

-The Hindu The fundamentals of the game have to change as they currently favour wealthy investors and not workers and tiny enterprises India has an incomes crisis: incomes of people in the lower half of the pyramid are too low. The solutions economists propose are: free up markets, improve productivity, and apply technology. These fundamentals of economics must be re-examined when applied to human work. Three solutions Economists say markets should be freed up...