Agriculture
References refered to in video -https://scroll.in/article/1003219/nearly-400000-farmers-committed-suicide-in-india-between-1995-and-2018-why Statistics say nearly 4,00,000 farmers committed suicide in India between 1995 and 2018. Why? An excerpt from ‘Ramrao: The Story of India’s Farm Crisis’, by Jaideep Hardikar. Jaideep Hardikar
Aug 20, 2021 Kalamb was a sensitive man. A Dhangar (shepherd) by caste, a nomadic tribe in Maharashtra, his poems are rooted in the region’s rustic culture and offer invaluable insights into an average Indian farmer’s life. In .. poem titled “Lek” (Daughter), he showcases the worries of a father who is a farmer. While the poem carries deep patriarchal undertones, it explains the structural social problems of Vidarbha, which once was a feudal region; though things have changed or are changing, caste and class animosities still subtly prevail. In “Itihaas” (History) he questions time for preserving only the glorious history of the rich, while wilfully burying the resilient struggles of the poor.
Local farmers’ markets were invaded by global markets, like that of cotton or food. Rapid upward economic mobility of sections of the population was creating newer inequalities, leading to a perception among the peasantry that they were losing out. The fast-changing economic conditions were also altering long-held social equations.
Landed farmers, once among the respected classes in a village economy, were now unable to meet their ever-growing needs, while the non-landed classes, absorbed in the unorganised service economy, migrated out of their villages to urban centres for better wages and work, doing marginally better than they once did as farm labourers.
The prevailing agrarian distress has a context with many factors: a giant interlinked global economy; commercialisation of farming and life itself; a rural population unable to withstand the new economic order in the absence of safety nets; an upwardly mobile and new affluent India disconnected from its villages; and the struggling poor even in the urban spaces.
Link for Viewing: https://youtu.be/YbKafd_TN3c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbKafd_TN3c
DÉJÀ VU a documentary by Bedabrata Pain 2024 began with farmers all over Europe demonstratively raising their voices in protest, while farmers in India re-launch a protest march to Delhi alongside other demonstrations, with MSP in the forefront of their demands.
Against the backdrop of the global rise in farmers’ movement, comes the documentary “Déjà vu”.
The documentary began in 2021. Barely two months since the launch of the farm laws in India to promote market reforms. In the middle of Covid-19 and a frigid American winter, four Indians were on a ten- thousand-kilometre drive through the farming heartland of America. Because, as it turns out that four decades ago, similar market reforms were ushered in in America.
A more classic case of “back to the future” perhaps could not be found.
How did the reforms turn out?
Who benefitted?
Who lost out?
Is it the farmers, the consumers, or the corporates?
What impact did loss of MSP or ushering in of contract farming have on farmers?
Through personal experiences and human stories of small farmers in America, Deja Vu is a chronicle of a four decade long history of a much-trumpeted elixir – and a cautionary tale for India.
Déjà Vu is the confluence where past meets future.
LAKHS OF FARMERS TO GATHER AT KISAN MAHAPANCHAYAT OF SAMYUKT KISAN MORCHA AT DELHI ON 20TH MARCH Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) | Press Release – March 19, 2023
The Mahapanchayat shall demand that the Union Govt. fulfil the commitments it had given in writing to SKM on 9th December, 2021 and also take effective steps to mitigate the ever increasing and spiralling crisis being faced by farmers.
'सरकार पर कोई विश्वास नहीं, ये देश को गरीब और कुछ लोगों को अमीर कर रही है' | Rakesh Tikait
4,147 views Oct 6, 2022 In this episode of Krishi Ki baat, Indra Shekhar Singh interviews farmers' leader Rakesh Tikait. After visiting Lakhimpur Kheri on one year death anniversary of farmers, Tikait speaks to Indra about challenges faced by the victims families and the way forward for SKM. Rising prices, sugarcane, MSP, etc are also discussed in the interview. Tikait also comments on Fodder shortages, climate change and comments on how government is anti-poor and anti- farmers.
कृषि की बात के इस एपिसोड में इंद्र शेखर सिंह किसान नेता राकेश टिकैत के साथ कई मुद्दों पर चर्चा की। किसानों की एक वर्ष की पुण्यतिथि पर लखीमपुर खीरी का दौरा करने के बाद, टिकैत ने इंद्र शेखर से पीड़ित परिवारों के सामने आने वाली चुनौतियों और एसकेएम के लिए आगे के रास्ते के बारे में बात की। साक्षात्कार में बढ़ती कीमतों, गन्ना, एमएसपी आदि पर भी चर्चा हुई। टिकैत ने चारे की कमी, जलवायु परिवर्तन और सरकार कैसे गरीब और किसान विरोधी है, इस पर भी टिप्पणी की।
Corporatising Agriculture and Foreign Investors -Farmer-owned Sahyadri Farms has raised Rs 310 crore from a group of European investors By Jayashree Bhosale Sep 14, 2022, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/farmer-owned-sahyadri-farms-has-raised-rs-310-crore-from-a-group-of-european-investors/articleshow/94202814.cms Foreign investment story of Sahyadri FPO is now become the discussion points amongst all of us mainly in the development and FPO sector.