-The Hindu Even though a record crop is expected this year, the lockdown may have robbed farmers of the chance to reap profits. There are no migrant labourers to help with harvesting and procurement, and no transport facilities to take the produce to markets in many parts of the country, report Vikas Vasudeva and Priscilla Jebaraj Jagtar Singh is a man in a hurry. It’s April 15, and with temperatures starting to...

-RuralIndiaOnline.org The government’s ‘package’ responding to the crisis is a blend of callousness and cluelessness With his first speech on the coronavirus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi got us to scare evil spirits away by having people bang the hell out of their pots and pans. With his second, he scared the hell out of all of us. With not a word on how the public, particularly the poor, are to access food and other...

-Newsclick.in The Modi government seems to have lost all control over the economy – or perhaps, was never in control. The Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government has been proclaiming ad nauseum that it has kept prices of essential items under control throughout its rule since 2014. That the prices of some commodities, especially food items, did not rise constantly is a fact, although for many other commodities, like fuel, prices did...

-The Hindu The Narmada has flowed into 178 villages since late August, after the dam blocked its path downstream in Gujarat Chikalda disappeared last week. And with it, the houses of at least 1,366 families. As the water crept in, the village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh emptied out in mid-September. What would you take with you with the water lapping at your waist? Chikalda’s men and women grabbed children, documents,...

-The Hindu Business Line Noted Gandhian economist Dr Sudarshan Iyengar surveys the distressed agricultural landscape, pinpoints its weaknesses, and prescribes solutions with their roots in Gandhian agronomics. Edited excerpts from an interview to BusinessLine: * Given the agrarian crisis in India today, how relevant are Gandhi's economic principles based on the village economy, and equitable distribution of resources? They are relevant in the context of Gandhi's view of gram swaraj (village self-rule), which...