-The Hindu Why are farm unions seeking a minimum support price for all crops? What are the terms of the committee set up to look into their demands? The story so far: After a year-long agitation on the borders of Delhi, protesting farm unions under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have achieved their headline demand, namely the repeal of three contentious laws seeking to reform the storage and marketing of...

-Newsclick.in It is the first significant reverse suffered by the government, which is promoting neoliberalism at breakneck speed. The announcement of the repeal of the three farm laws almost a year after farmers launched a massive movement against the Narendra Modi government’s contentious decision in which 671 protesters lost their lives is a setback to the neoliberal move, which intended to further corporate encroachment in agriculture. The organisations leading the struggle have argued...

-Newsclick.in BJP wants to turn farmers into daily wage workers in the corporate sector, says the author of the report that analyses the economic status of farmers who died during the ongoing protests. On 26 November 2020, waves upon waves of farmers descended upon India’s Capital. Barricaded from entering Delhi, they pitched tents at three border crossings on the outskirts of the city. They have resolutely stayed there since then, braving the...

The increase in the total number of suicides committed in India during 2020 in comparison to the previous years has hit the headlines recently. While some media commentators have stated that the economic distress (caused by job loss, income loss, failure of business, and growing hunger, among other things) in 2020 could have led to more suicides being committed, others have said that home isolation and deteriorating mental health (associated...

-The Hindu Marginal farmers, landless too add numbers: study As the farmers’ protest against the Centre’s farm laws at the State borders of Delhi is about to complete a year, a recent socio-economic study by researchers associated with the Punjabi University at Patiala says most of those who lost their lives during the movement are “small and marginal farmers” and “landless cultivators”. The study titled “Separating Wheat from the Chaff: Farm Laws, Farmers’...