Farmers’ Forum

Has India really turned the corner courtesy the Land Acquisition Bill or is it political skullduggery?

Colonising via Land Acquisition?

If the farmer viewpoints get incorporated into policies, a future where farm children are better off than the quagmire in which their forefathers live may well be possible.

The Indian farmer is in a bind; facing an unfolding nightmare with the fall of commodity prices in India and fertiliser selling at black market rates.

People support independent voices, in this case, the Farmers’ Forum, now 24 issues old. Yet they go to any length to thwart independence if it is contrary to their views

As in the past, in its bid to pre-empt higher food inflation, the establishment has misread the signals and generated a crisis of lower prices for the farmers.

The illusion the “good days are coming” will not last long if the current regime opts for a free-fall towards a free market economy rather than structured liberalisation.

Correct weather advisory, occasional consultations, professional soil testing and some understanding of issues from the farming perspective is all that the farmer wants.

Will there be a farmer representative on the new avatar of the Planning Commission and not a farm economist who is good with figures but has never ever felt the pain of being a farmer?

India ignores science when dealing with both climate change and food security/GM crops. The first needs a top-down approach and achieving food security needs a bottom-up approach.

Poor understanding and co-ordination between different central ministries and a complacent attitude around WTO over the last decade has caused immense suffering for the farmer.