-RuralIndiaOnline.org Ramesh Sharma is among lakhs of farmers from Bihar who earn more by working as farm labourers in Haryana than by harvesting the maize they grow at home Ramesh Sharma can’t remember the last time he spent an entire year at home. “I have been doing this for the past 15-20 years,” he says, while cutting sugarcane in a field in Gagsina village in Haryana’s Karnal district. For half of the year...
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What trade freedom did to Bihar’s farmers -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com * In 2006, Bihar abolished state-run Mandis. What followed is a forewarning for India’s new farm laws * The system is rigged in favour of the traders who cheat on every possible parameter—from weight to moisture level—which is why very few farmers come to Bihar’s Mandis to sell produce ARARIA/ PURNEA: Biren Bahardar thinks he is too small to raise his voice. Local traders can fleece at will while purchasing his harvest....
More »Declining Wages, No Government Aid: Daily Wage Workers Are Stuck in a Deep Crisis -Deepanshu Mohan, Jignesh Mistry, Advaita Singh, Snehal Sreedhar, Sunanda Mishra, Shivani Agarwal, Vanshika Mittal and Ada Nagar
-TheWire.in A survey of mazdoor Mandis in Surat, Lucknow and Pune shows that even many months after the lockdown ended, workers are struggling to make ends meet. “Since the time of COVID-19 lockdown, there has been a severe crisis of employment opportunities in local labour markets. Getting work for even two days a week is difficult for us. Daily wages too, for any work possible, have dipped by half,” says Rajesh Singh,...
More »Budget, like farm laws, is marred by gap between intentions of government and ground realities of agriculture -Ajay Vir Jakhar
-The Indian Express Investment in human capital, science and research remains the Achilles heel of Indian policy. The budget allocation for agriculture research and education has constantly declined from 0.31 per cent of the gross value added of agriculture and allied activities in 2011-12 to 0.24 per cent now Seven years of low crude prices, five years of above normal monsoon topped by good agriculture production, and everything looked positive for a...
More »Bihar’s failing PACS system shows what could happen after the farm laws -Akhilesh Pandey
-CaravanMagazine.in In 2006, the Bihar government deregulated the agricultural sector, and largely removed government oversight over food grain procurement. Previously a majority of food grain procurement happened through the Agricultural Produce Market Committee, a marketing board run by the state government that would organise Mandis—wholesale markets—where farmers could directly sell their produce to the Food Corporation of India or the State Farming Corporation at the established minimum support price. The MSP...
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