-TheWire.in Apple growers feel that instead of incentivising big corporates, the state government should instead help farmers build cold storages. Chandigarh: The main argument of those rallying behind the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s controversial farm laws; that the free market economy will reward farmers, faces a major dent in the wake of the crashing market price of the apple crop in Himachal Pradesh. The Rs 5,000 crore apple business in the hilly state,...
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How Feasible Is MSP as a Legal Right? Farmers Discuss at Kisan Sansad -Indra Shekhar Singh
-TheWire.in Protesting farmers believe that the MSP will as a legal right will solve a lot of farmers' issues, including debt. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was busy touting the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, the Kisan Sansad (parallel parliament organised by farmers at Jantar Mantar) delved into a serious question – can the minimum support price (MSP) become a legal right? There were 200 new farmers’ representatives and six hours to...
More »Amidst Rain, Kisan Sansad Takes on Contract Farming -Indra Shekhar Singh
-TheWire.in 'They made us buy seeds and fertilisers when the market prices crashed. Then, Pepsi said my produce didn’t meet their grade.' New Delhi: It rained all day as another session of the Kisan Sansad (farmers’ parliament) was in progress. Even a neem tree and a canopy couldn’t keep the Sansad venue from getting drenched. But this was no deterrent for those in attendance. The topic for the day was the Contract Farming...
More »Agri Ministry’s New App Gives Microsoft Access to Millions of Farmers’ Personal Data -Sashwata Saha
-TheCitizen.in ‘The whole process is faceless’ As the managing director of CropData Sachin Suri explained to Microsoft’s news desk last year, the abstract looking artwork behind him is not a painting. “This is actually a spectral analysis satellite image of farms. Each tiny spot, or a geo-spatial tile, is an actual field in Punjab and the different colors denote the stress levels in individual farms.” That frame is the crux of what CropData,...
More »Are we listening to the lessons taught in the first year of Covid-19? -Ashish Kothari
-The Indian Express The pandemic revealed the precarious state of India’s informal sector. Localised production, trade and markets offer a better alternative to existing paradigm of development. Another wave of COVID, another round of lockdowns, another long journey back home for migrant workers. If there is one lesson we are learning after a year of COVID-19, it is that we have not learnt any lessons, at least not the crucial ones. 2020 exposed...
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