Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-The Tribune Instead of leaving the farmers to face the vagaries of markets, which have pushed them globally into a debt trap, the demand for ensuring that no trading takes place below the MSP not only provides farmers with a safety net but it will also gradually become an economic design for the rest of the world to emulate. Across the globe, farmers are suffering the consequences of keeping farm-gate prices...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural economy run in the state. But...

-CaravanMagazine.in The sky had been overcast all day in Gharachon village, in Punjab’s Sangrur district. It was cold and by evening, it started to rain. None of that deterred Gurmail Kaur, as she prepared for the “Chalo Dilli” rally for the next day—an “onwards to Delhi” march called by farmers’ organisations of Punjab, to protest the three farm laws recently enacted by the Narendra Modi government. The plan was to reach...

-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...