-Down to Earth Every day, 54, mostly developed countries give nearly $2 billion in support to their farmers The sites of the farmers’ protests on the borders of Delhi are a microcosm of Indian peasantry — rich and poor, small and big, irrigated and rainfed and supported and not supported. The voices from these sites have now merged into one clarion call: Guarantee government support to farmers by legalising the minimum support...
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In Punjab, the centrality of the mandi system -Shreya Sinha
-Hindustan Times The mandi has been a major rallying cry for the protests in Punjab. Its importance to agricultural life cannot be overstated The stand-off between the government and the farmers on the new Farm laws shows no signs of easing. For a long time, the government insisted that the protest was led by middlemen and large farmers only in Punjab, and to some extent Haryana, who were concerned about losing their...
More »If India has handled Covid-19 so well, why has the Centre cancelled Parliament’s Winter Session? -Rohan Venkataramakrishnan
-Scroll.in What better place to discuss proposed amendments to the Farm laws that have sparked massive protests than the legislature? Explain this combination of claims from the Centre over the past few days: India has done “very well” at containing Covid-19, far better than many other nations. The Delhi government in particular was congratulated for its efforts. Meanwhile, the invite has gone out to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be the chief...
More »Who are Shetkari Sanghatana, the group backing govt on the Farm laws? -Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express While the Sanghatana has supported the Farm laws, it has also demanded that the ban on the export of onions be removed forthwith — and has threatened to pelt BJP MPs with onion bulbs if the central government did not accede to the demand. On Monday, some farmers’ unions met Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to express support for the three Farm laws against which thousands of farmers are...
More »The only option: farmers' protest -Jaideep Hardikar
-The Telegraph HINTERLAND: Our structural problem — small and marginal rain-fed sustenance farms, over 80 per cent of India’s agriculture sector — remains unaddressed Let’s understand the chronology: before the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi promised farmers that he would comply with the Swaminathan Commission formula to arrive at a minimum support price for farm produce: a 50 per cent profit over the production cost. Post elections, he reneged on the promise...
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