YouTube channels by independent journalists from Bastar tell stories of everyday life and challenge the overt securitisation of the region in mainstream discourse.
On taking over at the World Bank, McNamara had announced the targets that he had set for the World Bank’s fi ve-year McNamara- Phase I plan. The fi rst target was to double the global total of Bank and IDA lending. The target has been exceeded by 28 per cent.
Marking a historic moment in the global struggle against caste injustice, recent legislations in Seattle and California explicitly ban caste discrimination. The legal category of caste in these pieces of legislation is a product of decades of transnational activism by Dalits. It is also a category with a signifi cant history in the United States.
The document is a rendering of excerpts from the autobiographical essay by Poromesh Acharya, “Ak Naasteek Breeddher Jabaanbandee” (“Statement of an Old Atheist”) that appeared in Anustup (Kolkata, Supplement 2, Autumn Issue, Bengali Year 1421 [2014]). The focus is on Acharya’s East Bengal years and his political activism of the 1940s in Mymensingh town—in particular, “baptism” in the communist movement and being thrust willy-nilly into the fire of revolutionary activity in that town in 1948–49 in the midst of ongoing Hindu–Muslim communal tension. Acharya sees individual roles, responsibilities, problems and troubles, including his own, in terms of institutional movements and contradictions. All through, there is an acute awareness that his life can only be meaningfully understood alongside the unfolding history of the society itself, as reflected in the anti-colonial movement, the Bengal Famine of 1943, the political path of Subhas Chandra Bose and his Forward Bloc, communal tension and partition, and the short-lived revolutionary programme of the Communist Party of India following its February 1948 Second Party Congress.
This paper explores the economics of contract versus non-contract potato farming in West Bengal, India, using primary data collected from a household survey of 263 farmers (2021–22 potato season). While proponents of contract farming argue that fixed prices and secure markets provide farmers with better returns, this study shows that non-contract farmers actually obtained much higher farm investment income (`42,413.63) per acre than contract farmers (`9,703.94). Without any significant differences in yield and production costs, the higher open market price (`1,458) per quintal benefits non-contract potato farmers despite production loss, while the fixed price in contract farming (`1,106) leads to significantly less farm returns for contract potato farmers.
This paper explores the economics of contract versus non-contract potato farming in West Bengal, India, using primary data collected from a household survey of 263 farmers (2021–22 potato season). While proponents of contract farming argue that fixed prices and secure markets provide farmers with better returns, this study shows that non-contract farmers actually obtained much higher farm investment income (`42,413.63) per acre than contract farmers (`9,703.94). Without any significant differences in yield and production costs, the higher open market price (`1,458) per quintal benefits non-contract potato farmers despite production loss, while the fixed price in contract farming (`1,106) leads to significantly less farm returns for contract potato farmers.
The variations in COVID-19 infections and deaths reported in Indian states as of 31 March 2021 have been analysed. While the proportion of people living in densely populated areas, per capita net state domestic product, and proportion of aged people explained the variations in COVID-19 infections, in the case of deaths, an additional contributing factor was identified in per capita public health infrastructure. The curious situation of income increasing COVID-19 transmissions and deaths could probably be explained by the considerable proportion of people in some high-income states living in congested slums under extreme poverty with poor access to basic infrastructure, and the high mobility and exposure of some of these states to domestic and international travel footprint, and large migrant population, all resulting in increased risks.
The variations in COVID-19 infections and deaths reported in Indian states as of 31 March 2021 have been analysed. While the proportion of people living in densely populated areas, per capita net state domestic product, and proportion of aged people explained the variations in COVID-19 infections, in the case of deaths, an additional contributing factor was identified in per capita public health infrastructure. The curious situation of income increasing COVID-19 transmissions and deaths could probably be explained by the considerable proportion of people in some high-income states living in congested slums under extreme poverty with poor access to basic infrastructure, and the high mobility and exposure of some of these states to domestic and international travel footprint, and large migrant population, all resulting in increased risks.
The variations in COVID-19 infections and deaths reported in Indian states as of 31 March 2021 have been analysed. While the proportion of people living in densely populated areas, per capita net state domestic product, and proportion of aged people explained the variations in COVID-19 infections, in the case of deaths, an additional contributing factor was identified in per capita public health infrastructure. The curious situation of income increasing COVID-19 transmissions and deaths could probably be explained by the considerable proportion of people in some high-income states living in congested slums under extreme poverty with poor access to basic infrastructure, and the high mobility and exposure of some of these states to domestic and international travel footprint, and large migrant population, all resulting in increased risks.
The variations in COVID-19 infections and deaths reported in Indian states as of 31 March 2021 have been analysed. While the proportion of people living in densely populated areas, per capita net state domestic product, and proportion of aged people explained the variations in COVID-19 infections, in the case of deaths, an additional contributing factor was identified in per capita public health infrastructure. The curious situation of income increasing COVID-19 transmissions and deaths could probably be explained by the considerable proportion of people in some high-income states living in congested slums under extreme poverty with poor access to basic infrastructure, and the high mobility and exposure of some of these states to domestic and international travel footprint, and large migrant population, all resulting in increased risks.
The variations in COVID-19 infections and deaths reported in Indian states as of 31 March 2021 have been analysed. While the proportion of people living in densely populated areas, per capita net state domestic product, and proportion of aged people explained the variations in COVID-19 infections, in the case of deaths, an additional contributing factor was identified in per capita public health infrastructure. The curious situation of income increasing COVID-19 transmissions and deaths could probably be explained by the considerable proportion of people in some high-income states living in congested slums under extreme poverty with poor access to basic infrastructure, and the high mobility and exposure of some of these states to domestic and international travel footprint, and large migrant population, all resulting in increased risks.