The three new bills passed by the Union government amending the existing laws governing farmers rights has met with widespread protests all across the country. The bills have led to one of the ruling party's oldest allies to leave the alliance in support of farmers.
One of India's well-known activists Medha Patkar spoke to Video Volunteers community correspondent Chetan Salve on the sidelines on a large scale protest organised by more than 200 organisations in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district.
"Entry of companies into farmland will not benefit the farmers. Gujarat's story, where potato farmers were trapped and exploited by a cola major, will be repeated across the country if this bill isn't taken back," said Patkar.
The bills, titled The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, The Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 were passed by the government swiftly amidst protests and a walkout by the opposition parties in the parliament.
A Call for Research on AI’s Role in Amplifying the Insights of the Systemically Unheard
The article argues that systematically ignoring and silencing the voices of the poor and marginalized worldwide does not serve society or democracy well and must be countered. While new technologies such as AI could provide an opportunity for change, we contend that these technologies need to account more effectively for...
How to Juggle a Career as a Community Correspondent as well a Mainstream Media Reporter
When the staff at Gannett newspapers in the US coined the term MOJO (Mobile Journalism) to describe new ways of gathering and distributing news using emerging technologies in 2005, they would not have imagined its virality and use ten years later. Ask new media journalists and our Community Correspondents Shah...