The police brutality on the farmers protesting against the farm bill passed by the Parliament need to be unconditionally condemned. The farmers are agitating againsnt these bills since they were passed without proper discussion in Parliament. The fear is that the bills will pave the way for corporatisation of agriculture and will leave the farmers atg the mercy of corporate[Read More...]
Three new farm Acts were recently introduced in the country. The most important of these, the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 is aimed at putting an end to the monopoly of the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) mandis. Earlier, under the 1964 APMC Act, all the farmers were required to sell their produce at the Government-regulated mandis.[Read More...]
Co-Written by Dibyendu Chaudhuri and Parijat Ghosh Deskilling is a process of elimination of skilled labour within an economy. Separation of intelligence from muscle helps ruling class dominating both (Braverman, 1974). Advent of modern agriculture, characterised by hybrid seeds, chemical fertilisers, pesticides, etc., is considered responsible for deskilling in agriculture. In agriculture, deskilling is understood as a process in[Read More...]
The farmer’s job is to cultivate and harvest. Not to construct grain silos. Prime Minister Modi on Aug 09, 2020 launched a new financing scheme under the Rs. 1 lakh crore Agriculture Infrastructure Fund meant for setting up storage and processing facilities, which will help farmers get higher prices for their crops, according to the government statement. “The scheme will[Read More...]
HODEIDA, YEMEN — The country of Yemen, known in the medieval period as “Green Yemen,” is one of the most extensively terraced areas of the world. There, Yemeni farmers transformed rugged mountain slopes into terraces and built dams like the Great Marib, a structure whose history spans long enough that it was mentioned in the Quran. During the medieval period, Yemen had one of the widest ranges of agricultural crops in all of the Middle East.
In the past 3 years, Monsanto’s (now Bayer) genetically modified soybean seeds have dominated 60% to 70% of the market. The Xtend soybeans bring in about $1 billion a year for Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in June 2018. But sales of the seeds are being driven by fear, and that fear has birthed an anti-trust lawsuit against the agrochemical giant.
In his 1978 book ‘India Mortgaged’, T.N. Reddy predicted the country would one day open all sectors to foreign direct investment and surrender economic sovereignty to imperialist powers. Today, the US and Europe cling to a moribund form of capitalism and have used various mechanisms to bolster the system in the face of economic stagnation and massive inequalities: the raiding of public budgets,[Read More...]
Palestine soaps, corpse flowers and Blockbuster beers + this day in history w/the end of The Smiths and our song of the day by the Watson Twins on your Morning Monarchy for September 12, 2018.
Unlimited wildfires, doctor's orders and the rise of the super snake + this day in history w/the Chicano Moratorium and our song of the day by Brett Dennen on your Morning Monarchy for August 29, 2018.
