The #PradhanMantriFasalBimaYojana is a govt-sponsored crop insurance scheme meant to provide #insurance coverage to farmers in the event of crop failure due to natural calamities, pests & diseases. Read about the deeply flawed nature of this #policy & it's actual beneficiaries👇
An #RTI inquiry reveals #insurance companies are the main benefeciaries of these schemes. Without making any financial #investment,these companies have raked in a massive profit of Rs.15,795 crore in the 2 yrs since the implementation of #PMFBY. #disastercapitalism@NaomiAKlein
While the farmers’ wait for increase in #income continues, the profit of #insurance firms increased by 1.5x in just 1yr of the introduction of the PMFBY. While #profits of these companies are skyrocketting, the no. of insured #farmers is rapidly declining. bit.ly/2IM0XsR
Permitting a huge hidden transfer of #public money to private insurers during times of serious farmer distress,@PSainath_org explains why the PM Fasal Bima Yojana will be a bigger #scam than the #Rafale deal in terms of free handouts to #corporations. bit.ly/2VBO9L7
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‘Who knew the lack of rain could kill my art?’ (a thread)
Three decades ago, no one wanted to teach a young Sanjay Kamble how to work with bamboo.
Today, when he wants to teach everyone his dying craft, no one wants to learn.
“It’s ironic how times have changed,” the 50-year-old says.
With the bamboo that grows in his one-acre field, Kamble mainly crafts irlas – a kind of raincoat used by paddy farmers in this region in western Maharashtra.
“My lungs feel like stone. I can barely walk,” says Manik Sardar.
In November, 2022, the 55-year-old was diagnosed with silicosis – an incurable pulmonary disease. “I have no interest in the upcoming elections,” he continues,
“I am only worried about my family’s condition.”
Naba Kumar Mandal is also a patient of silicosis. He adds, “elections are about false promises. For us, voting is a routine task. No matter who comes to power, things will not change for us.”
“I reach here by 8:45 a.m. and we start work by nine. By the time I am home, it is 7-7:30 in the evening,” says Madan Pal. ‘Here,’ is the tiny carrom board factory in Suraj Kund Sports Colony in Meerut city, Uttar Pradesh.
Karan, 32, who has been working here for 10 years, inspects each stick of wood and segregates those that are damaged and will be returned.
“It is not difficult to make a board, but it is not easy to make the coins glide on the playing surface.”
Lenindhasan, or Lenin– as he is called – and his friends, are trying to replace modern rice varieties and resist mono-cropping. Their plan is to restore lost diversity. And to germinate a rice revolution.
It's a different kind of revolution, led by another kind of Lenin.
Lenin cultivates 30 varieties of rice. He sells another 15 raised by fellow farmers. And he conserves 80 types of paddy seeds. All this, in his family’s six-acre farm in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvanamalai district.
It seems as if he’s been farming and selling paddy for decades. But it’s only been six years.
Before he became a farmer, Lenin was a corporate employee in Chennai, with two degrees and a good salary.
Life has only become harder in the last 10 years (A thread)
India's poorest homes continue to rely on minor forest produce like mahua and tendu leaves, along with the assured Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) programme.
As they prepare for voting today in the General Elections 2024, Adivasi villagers here in Arattondi village say their lives have only become harder in the last 10 years...