THE All India Kisan Sabha, in a statement issued on May 10, has condemned the extreme insensitivity of the BJP-led central government, the TDP-led Andhra Pradesh government and TRS government in Telangana towards the plight of the chilli farmers in the two states. It is notable that the farmers had expanded cultivation of chilli on the advice of the Andhra Pradesh state government to not go in for cotton cultivation citing pests and climatic problems. Despite the drought situation, farmers invested in a big way leading to bumper production of the crop.

The leaders of All India Kisan Sabha visited Jaisinghpur of Nuh district of Haryana on April 7, to console the bereaved family members of Pehlu Khan, the dairy farmer who was killed by Sangh Parivar organisations. AIKS leaders comprising Hannan Mollah, general secretary, P Krishnaprasad, finance secretary, Master Sher Singh, president of Haryana Kisan Sabha and Manoj Kumar visited the family of the victims.   Satvir Singh, state president of CITU, Major S L Prajapathy, Gurgaon District secretary of CPI(M) were also part of the delegation.

THIS article is an attempt mainly to assess the direction of the Union Budget for 2017-18, whether it will help the peasantry to come out of the present systemic crisis and end rising peasant suicides. This is important especially in the context of substantial increase in the rate of peasant suicides in the over two years of the NDA government.

POTATO growers in West Bengal are enraged, with strings of protests and blockades sweeping through the state. The crisis of the peasants has accentuated as the prices of potato have come down to an all-time low, both in wholesale and retail market. Distress sale has become the order of the day. And, though it is continuing for months, no intervention has been evident from the state government.

THE union budget presented by the finance minister in days of acute agrarian crisis compounded by the adverse impact of demonetisation on agriculture is a betrayal of the peasantry. The disruptive consequences of demonetisation has led to a further fall in incomes, threatened agricultural production and created uncertainty about any revival of agricultural growth.