-The Indian Express Apart from repeal of farm laws, farmers are demanding guaranteed minimum support prices, which have no legal backing. A look at what the implications would be if the govt did provide the guarantee Farmer unions protesting on Delhi’s borders are raising two fundamental demands. The first is for repealing the three agricultural reform laws enacted by the Centre. The second is to provide legal guarantee for the minimum support...

-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...

-Livemint.com * The supply chain disruption in poultry continues, further hurting the nutritional standards of poorer households * The current steep prices of items that make up the retail food basket—be it eggs, pulses or vegetables—is evidently taking a toll on millions of Indian households NEW DELHI: Banks should not advance large loans to farmers, least of all to those in the poultry business, an exasperated Ramesh Mehla said over the phone. He...

-Newsclick.in An assessment by the Environics trust and the Mineral Inheritors Rights Association shows that not even a single company qualifies the fit and proper person test often used by international agencies as a benchmark for a place in the bidding process of natural resources. For the first time in five decades, India’s coal reserves are up for grabs to private sector bidders. The Auction for 38 coal blocks is currently underway....

-TheWire.in As one village prepares to take the government to court, another claims panchayat land reserved for scheduled castes was Auctioned by proxy to ‘upper caste’ families. Chandigarh: One-and-a-half months ago, Amrik Kaur, sarpanch of village Sekhowal in Ludhiana district, was asked to attend a meeting at the Ludhiana deputy commissioner’s office. There, she was asked to give her consent for the transfer of a portion of the village common (shamlat) land...