-Hindustan Times Currently, two of the Government of India’s (GoI) largest schemes focussed on reviving the rural economy have been the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN). With food inflation hitting 14% in December 2019 and real rural wages declining for eight consecutive months (latest data available till October), rural India is among the worst hit by the current economic slowdown. Providing...

-Business Today Brazil, a major sugarcane producer, has been against India's existing scheme to support sugarcane farmers claiming that it was beyond the permissible limits under the WTO regulations Prime minister Narendra Modi-led government's decision to invite Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro as the chief guest of India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26 has been criticised by All India Sugarcane Farmers' Federation (AISFF), an affiliate of CPIM's farmer body All India...

-The Hindu Such an ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of schemes meant to help them Who is a farmer? What is the government’s definition of a farmer and how many farmers are there in India by that definition? Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar failed to answer that question when it was asked in Parliament last week. The government’s ambiguity has serious implications for the design and beneficiaries of the...

-Press release by National Alliance of Peoples' Movements  dated 28 November, 2019 In yet another of its egregious legislative misadventures, the BJP Government with support from some other parties, passed the regressive 'Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights)' Bill, in the Rajya Sabha yesterday, despite wide-spread opposition by members of the transgender, intersex and gender non-confirming communities, seeking referral of the Bill to a Select Committee. We have all been witness to...

-The Economic Times Organised by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), the Conference resolved that they will not allow another “PepsiCo India Vs Farmers episode” to recur in India. PUNE: Farmers’ movements have decided to put up a collective fight to ensure that farmers’ seed freedoms in India are not violated in any way, in a People’s Conference held here today. Organised by Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA), the...