New Delhi | Reuters – India’s main opposition party pressed the government on Thursday to call a special parliamentary session to withdraw new agricultural laws that farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations. Rahul Gandhi, a senior leader from the opposition Congress party, handed the president a copy of a petition […] Read more
Indian opposition demands repeal of farm laws after protests
India considers changing new farm laws after mass protests
New Delihi | Reuters — India’s government is considering rolling back some parts of its agricultural reforms after they triggered the biggest protests by farmers in years, officials said on Friday. Tens of thousands of farmers were out on the streets around Delhi again on Friday, rallying against three laws that the government says are […] Read more
India’s controversial farm bills become law despite protests
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s president on Sunday approved three controversial agricultural bills amid nationwide protests by farmers who say the new laws will stunt their bargaining power and instead allow large retailers to have control over pricing. Farmers’ organizations say one of the three laws could lead to the government stopping buying grain […] Read more
Indian cabinet minister quits over farm legislation
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s minister for food processing resigned on Thursday over her opposition to planned laws to allow farmers to sell produce directly to bulk buyers and make contract farming easier, saying the legislation will hurt millions of the country’s farmers. “Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister,” Harsimrat […] Read more
India to let farmers sell produce directly to traders, retailers
Current system seen reducing farmer bargaining power
New Delhi | Reuters — India is to allow farmers to sell produce directly to bulk buyers such as trading companies, food processors and large retailers, the farm minister said on Wednesday. This would obviate the need for farmers to bring their produce to India’s more than 7,000 regulated wholesale markets and let buyers buy […] Read more
Unseasonal rain, hail damage winter crops in India
Crop quality issues may pressure prices
New Delhi | Reuters — Unseasonal torrential rains and hailstorms have damaged the winter-planted crops of millions of Indian growers, inundating wheat, potato, chickpea and rapeseed farms in large parts of the fertile northern plains, farmers said. Most farmers were caught by surprise by the repeated rain and hail that has lashed fields full of […] Read more
Indian court acquits six in cow vigilante case
New Delhi | Reuters — An Indian court on Wednesday acquitted six men of the killing of a 55-year-old Muslim dairy farmer, citing lack of evidence, raising questions over the prosecution’s failure to make its case despite videos of a crowd beating him in the street. The 2017 attack on Pehlu Khan and his two […] Read more
India’s top court suspends ban on trade in cattle for slaughter
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s Supreme Court suspended on Tuesday a government ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter, a boost for the multi-billion dollar beef and leather industries mostly run by members of the Muslim minority. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in May decreed that markets could only trade cattle […] Read more
India cattle trade ban to halt beef exports
New Delhi | Reuters — India’s ban on the trade of cattle for slaughter threatens US$4 billion in annual beef exports and millions of jobs if the government does not revoke the stoppage decreed last week, according to two industry officials. In the latest setback to the Muslim-dominated meat industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government […] Read more
India considering reinstating wheat import tax
New Delhi | Reuters –– India could impose a 25 per cent import tax on wheat by the middle of March, two government sources said on Wednesday, reinstating the tariff after a gap of nearly three months in response to recent large purchases from overseas. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, lowered the import tax […] Read more
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