The Times of India – Online

Women are the backbone of the Indian agriculture sector and their contribution is pivotal in making the sector self-reliant, according to the government. Addressing a virtual event organised by Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR) to commemorate the International Women’s Day on Monday, two Union ministers of state for agriculture – Parshottam Rupala and Kailash Choudhary – spoke about women’s contribution in every sector including agriculture. Rupala highlighted the central government’s various schemes that are aimed at empowering women in every aspect of life, while Choudhary lauded women’s contribution in agriculture and farming sectors.

The Print – Online

Women farmers, until now, were working in the shadows of our food systems. However, the recent farmer protest and their global coverage has changed this. The voices of our distressed women farmers can be easily heard in vast numbers, expressing, as TIME magazine quotes it “Who are we, if not farmers?” Therefore, on this International Women’s Day, it is important to acknowledge the ongoing phenomenon of feminisation of Indian agricultural workforce that has been in play since the past few decades.

In 2011, India had about 481 million people in its workforce (as per Census 2011); about 31 per cent or about 150 million of these workers were women. This share was about 14 per cent in 1981. Multitudes of women ...

The Wire – Online

In a speech last September, Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted that 85% of India’s farmers own small tracts of land.

The timing of the address was crucial. Modi was defending the new controversial farm laws and trying to make a larger point on why collective contract farming – which one of the three laws seek to allow – would be beneficial for India’s farmers.

But, if one was ever able to ask the Prime Minister the absolute number of farmers that the 85% he mentioned would translate to, you would be lucky to get a response. This is because the Indian government doesn’t quite know how many farmers there are in India, or indeed, who really is a ...

The Hindu – Online

Award-winning farmer Mavuram Mallikarjun Reddy’s journey from software to agriculture

If bad loans, crop failures and low yields hover like dark clouds over agriculture, organic farmers like Mavuram Mallikarjun Reddy are the silver lining. A native of Pedda Kurumapally village in Karimnagar district of Telangana

Truthout – Online

The world has been riveted for months now by the mass farmers’ strike in India against Narendra Modi’s neoliberal agriculture reforms bills. The passage of these deeply unpopular laws has overlapped with the Modi regime’s intensified crackdown of any and all dissent at home.

But one big part of this story has gone unnoticed: the complicity of Google and other tech platforms in propping up the repressive Modi-BJP government through their huge investments in the regime’s closest allies and biggest beneficiaries.

In particular, Google’s multi-billion dollar investment in the telecommunications company owned by oil and gas billionaire Mukesh Ambani shows how US Big Tech will stop at nothing to make a bigger profit, even if this includes legitimizing a ...

Daily Excelsior – Online

Farmers in Jammu and Kashmir are officially recognized as marginal farmers because of very small agricultural land holdings estimated at 0.55 hectares during the agriculture census 2015-2016. Unofficial sources say that land holding is much smaller (around 0.45 hectares ). In Kashmir valley, the size is even smaller. During the 2010-2011 agriculture census, the average size of operational land holdings in India was 1.15 hectares. This figure was lower, at 0.62 hectares in Jammu and Kashmir. Districts in Kashmir valley had even lower landholding sizes than the state as a whole. Kulgam 0.39 hectares Anantnag 0.39 , Shopian 0.56, Pulwama 0.48, Srinagar 0.31, Budgam 0.43, Baramulla 0.51, Ganderbal 0.37, Kupwara 0.51, Bandipora 0.48. This figure again ...

Times of India – Online

The state government has set up an integrated call centre for agriculture and farmers in allied sectors to address their grievances. Experts would provide assistance to farmers on their farm-related issues over phone as well as via text messages. The centre will be available from 7 am to 7 pm on all working days.

Agriculture minister Kurasala Kannababu said that the farmers could seek guidance on all agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, sericulture and marketing issues from the call centre. “Experts in all the sectors would be available to share their knowledge and guide the farmers with the right inputs. The decision to open the dedicated call centre with experts is another step to take the government ...