-Down to Earth Why are Farmers protesting the government’s ’reforms’, ask many. A look at how Bihar’s farmers have fared may explain The recent controversy about India’s newly minted farm laws have brought back into focus what Nitish Kumar did a decade-and-a-half ago: Shutting down the mandi (wholesale markets for agricultural produce) system in 2006. The much-touted ‘reform’ has impacted the state’s farmers, and not in a good way. Farmers have had to...

-The Hindu Government seeks more time to respond; more talks on December 9. After four hours of discussion with Central Ministers on the tenth day of their ongoing protests on the borders of Delhi, farmer leaders ran out of patience. Refusing to speak any further, they went on a 25-minute “maun vrat” or silent protest. Holding up impromptu placards with a short scribbled message, “Yes or No?”, they demanded that the government declare...

-The Hindu The Farm Acts that are the focus of the farmers’ protest bear variously on the different strata of the farming community At a kisan rally in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh on February 28, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of his vision of doubling the income of India’s farmers by 2022. Subsequently, several central leaders and even official committees have reiterated this tall promise. Probably, one of the measures that the...

-The Indian Express Post 2014, two centralisations — of political and economic power — continue to reinforce each other, with profound consequences for the country and potential to define popular narrative in days ahead. The return of single-party dominance and its implications for politics after nearly 25 years of minority/coalition governments at the Centre (December 1989-April 2014) has been widely commented upon. As have concerns over rising corporate market power and their...

-Hindustan Times For the AIKS, the experience of 2014 movement against the land bill and the 2018 long march in Maharashtra came handy this time The CPIM in India had long mastered the art of issue-based support. It’s farmer arm, All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), increasingly widened the scope of such pacts to stage big-ticket protests such as the ongoing farmers’ agitation in the National Capital Region. For the AIKS, a key participant...