-GovernanceNow.com As farmers protests take centre stage across the country, Swaraj Party convenor explains the ecological, economic and existential crisis behind this unrest. * We have recently seen farmers from Tamil Nadu protesting in the national capital. Then Maharashtra farmers protested, deciding not to send their produce to cities. The agitation has now reached Madhya Pradesh, leading to killings. Why there is sudden farmers’ unrest in the country? I think we...

-The Indian Express UP’s farm loan waiver could prompt other states to follow suit, evade real reasons for agricultural distress The new Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath, has hit the ground running. In his first cabinet meeting, he took three important decisions with regard to farmers. First, he waived farm loans of more than Rs 36,000 crore, primarily of the small and marginal farmers who comprise 92 per cent of the...

-The Indian Express Integration of spot and derivatives markets for farm produce via e-NAM can be a potential game-changer There isn’t much from the recent Union Budget as far as new ideas for agriculture goes, yet it sends out a couple of signals suggesting the Narendra Modi government’s intent to integrate farmers better with the markets. One such signal is the proposal to come out with a ‘model law’ on contract farming for...

-The Financial Express There is by now substantial agreement amongst analysts that a strategy for dal production which ensures supplies and a reasonable degree of self-reliance is sorely needed, and the country cannot go from one crisis to another without a well-worked-out policy. However, the discussion is flawed on its assessments of what governments can and cannot do and on the lack of a short and medium strategy to enhance production....

-The Hindu Business Line The electronic-National Agriculture Market is a sound idea but implementation is at a nascent stage Farmers in Telangana staged a protest last Monday, demanding discontinuation of the electronic-national agriculture market (e-NAM) platform and restoration of the previous platform provided by NCDEX e-Markets. It followed the failure of the software to accommodate the heavy volumes of the peak season arrivals, beginning with maize and soyabean. The Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC)...