Farmers Agitation

Farmers’ Protest: A National Satyagraha

‘Sarkar ki asli majburi; ambani, adani, jamakhori’ (The Compulsions of the government is Ambani, Adani and hoarding cum corruption). This is the  slogan that the protesting farmers are raising these days in the course of their nationwide struggle for their dignity and rights. Though very brief, but this slogan expediently and succinctly captures the issue, the farmers are foregrounding. On[Read More...]

Does RSS Have A Positive Agrarian Policy?

In the context of a massive farmer agitation to protect the agrarian productive mass self-respect and future of their age old occupation, it is important to see whether the ruling Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideology has any scope for developing agriculture as against its pro-business ideology. If one looks at the policy documents of the RSS right from 1925 it’s Cultural[Read More...]

The Corporate Cannibals

First they came for the corner shops And I did not speak out Because I was not a shopkeeper Then they came for the taxis And I did not speak out Because I was not a taxi driver Next they came for travel agencies And I did not speak out Because I was not a travel agent Then they came[Read More...]
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Farmer Protests Expose Nexus Between Rulers and Corporates

Enlarged farmers’ protests at Delhi that succeeded in mustering active support from adjoining states have forced the Modi government to leave its earlier stand that the Farm Act would bring ‘bonanza’ for the farmers. And in a way of confessing its error, the government has come down with a negotiating proposal for amending the Acts. But by exhibiting trust-deficit in[Read More...]

Message from Women’s Movement to Farmers

Today women and men in the farmers’ struggle are standing shoulder to shoulder at the Delhi borders. This movement is a symbol in the history of India—a symbol of freedom, of voices, of ideas, of protests, of slogans, of resolutions. This is not just a farmers’ struggle; it is a joint campaign of all of us, of children, women and[Read More...]

The New Farm Laws: A Critique and a way forward

It is not every day that one needs a doctor, a lawyer, a policemen or a priest, but everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer. Farmers are not a homogenous community. There are caste and class differences because, among land-owning farmers, the socio-economic spectrum of farmers is huge. At one end are wealthy, university-educated farmers with large land-holdings,[Read More...]

Standing with Farmers in Solidarity by CSOs

New farm bill 2020:  Why farmers are protesting? Farmers from several Indian states are protesting against three new Agriculture Reforms Acts, that the government says will open up the tightly-controlled agriculture sector to free-market forces. It is claimed that the bills, passed by India’s parliament make it easier for farmers to sell their produce directly to private buyers and enter[Read More...]

How Growing Corporatization Has Harmed Farmers and Farming

The most prominent feature of world farming in recent decades has been that of growing corporate control, and this has often been at the expense and interests of farmers. It is important to understand the wide-ranging adverse implications of this  corporatization of farming for the sustainability of farming systems, for the welfare of ordinary farmers and for food-security of the[Read More...]

Building narrative to discredit farmers movement dangerous and will never succeed

As the farmers protest has grown powerful and looking for a long haul, the BJP as well as its ‘information network’ has gone overboard to discredit them. Whatever things happen at the ground, the social media trolls and disinformation has its impact even if we deny them or mock at them. Travelling in the train from Uttar Pradesh give you[Read More...]

Women in the Kisan Andolan and the Niche They Carve

Delhi right now is witnessing an unprecedented outburst of long suppressed agony and muffled voice of the Indian farmers. The protest that started in August 2020 against the three Agricultural Laws bring forth by the NDA government is projecting a shift in its vigor and valor since this November 25th, when the farmers from Punjab and Haryana have decided to[Read More...]