-The Indian Express Two loan defaults lead to two different outcomes, year upon year, a nightmare version of déjà vu. The former exits the country; the latter exits the mortal world. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamond jeweler Nirav Modi could jointly run a crash course for the debt-ridden and beleaguered farmers of Vidarbha, nay the entire country: How to stay cool with unpaid debts. Mallya could tell the Peasantry, for instance, how...

-Hindustan Times Herein lies the crisis of farmer politicians. They have neither aspirations nor the power of coercion working for them. Rural distress dominated discussions around the political-economy in 2017, and will likely continue to do so in 2018, much to the consternation of political incumbents. Those in opposition will be looking forward to harvesting this anger for their own benefit. One question is worth asking though. Where is the farmer-politician in...

-The Tribune Over 150 farmers’ bodies have come together on a common agenda IS the farmers’ movement in India entering a new phase? Six weeks is too short a window to answer this question with certainty. But the nature of farmers’ protest across the country since the beginning of farmers’ strike in Punjab shows signs of something new. This impression is confirmed in a two-week journey connecting farmers, organisations and movements across six...

-The Hindu Information has not graduated to storytelling to dent the regime’s idea of agricultural policy I remember years ago the Delhi School of Economics had many great scholars visit the campus. They talked passionately and knowledgeably not just about the subject but about knowledge as a vocation. One of the most memorable of these performances was by Teodor Shanin, the economic historian who also edited Peasants and Peasant Societies. He talked...

-Newsclick.in Forget 50 percent profit over the cost of production, the farmers were forced to sell their produce at well below the minimum support price and the cost of production, pushing them deeper into debt. Farming turning increasingly unviable across vast swathes of India, and the Narendra Modi-led government not delivering on the BJP’s election promise to “make agriculture rewarding” lie behind the massive protests that have rocked several BJP-ruled states in...