BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s Claim on ‘No Farmer Suicides’ Isn’t Backed by NCRB Data
According to the NCRB data, there have been over 43,000 farmer suicides in India between 2014 and 2020.
The Future of Work
Three-part article on the future of work since the pandemic slump: Remote Working; Working Long and Hard; and Automation.
Farmers Expand Base – Move Into Protest Space Again
Farmers are again moving into the protest space. With new dimensions being added to their earlier movement: the Agnipath scheme and the contentious Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2022 have added to the pent up anger on the minimum support price (MSP).
Corporate Capture and Plight of the People in Odisha
The government of Odisha is auctioning away thousands of acres of forest lands to corporate houses for mining projects, without the consent of the tribal people living on these lands, in gross violation of FRA and PESA. The tribal people are waging heroic struggles to defend their livelihoods.
Indian Economy at 75: Trapped in a Borrowed Development Strategy
The growth at any cost strategy has been at the expense of the workers and the environment. The situation has been aggravated by the recent policy mistakes – demonetization, flawed GST and sudden lockdown. The challenge before India is not just economic but societal. Unless that challenge is met, portents are not bright for India at 75.
War Is Not Part of Human Nature
The high level of killing often reported in history or later archaeology is contradicted in the earliest archaeological findings around the globe. The most ancient bones and artifacts are consistent with the title of Margaret Mead’s 1940 article: “Warfare Is Only an Invention—Not a Biological Necessity.”
Central Government: 22 Crore Applied, 7 Lakh Got Jobs, 9 Lakh Posts Still Vacant
Replying to a question in the Parliament, the government stated that between 2014 and 2022, the Central government recruited 7.22 lakh persons, while 9.79 lakh posts were still vacant.
SBI Research Doubles Farmers’ Income
The SBI Research Dept recently issued a “Special Report on Agriculture” that claims that farmers’ income doubled in FY22 as compared to FY18 for certain crops in some states… while in all other cases it rose in the range of 1.3-1.7 times. An examination of some of the features of this report.
Electricity Bill: Centre’s Reform Measures Contain ‘Carrot and Stick Package’ for States
The proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill-2022 would weaken the finances of states’ power distribution companies, cripple the states’ finances, impose heavy costs on small consumers (especially farmers), and benefit only corporate houses, says the Peoples’ Commission on Public Sector and Public Services.
Sowing Hunger, Reaping Profits
What is crucially being overlooked by most diagnoses of the current food crisis is how the problem does not lie in a lack of supply, or lack of market integration, but instead in how the food system is structured around power.