my thoughts

  In the recently concluded Monsoon session, our Parliament passed three new farm reform bills, The ‘Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill’, ‘The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill’ and ‘The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill’. While some believe these have the potential to change the face of agriculture in our country, others fear wrecking millions of farmer lives. Newspapers and news channels have been flooded with opinions and analysis by various experts. A brief about the bills is as follows: 1. The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill : This law allows farmers to sell their produce anywhere within the country under the ‘One Nation- One Market’ concept. As per the old laws, farmers were restricted from selling anywhere other than state government operated ‘mandis’ called Agriculture Product Market committees’ [APMC] where they were allowed to sell their...

  Nelson Mandela had famously said and I quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Significance of learning dates back to the beginning of civilization. Education has, from time immemorial been universally accepted as an important indicator of how prosperous a society would turn out to be. It therefore is given abundant importance in government policy making and fund allocation. Each year our government spends a huge chunk of its reserves on building and promoting educational facilities of various kinds. Lockdown as a response to COVID 19 outbreak has however disrupted that norm. This pandemic is said to be the greatest crisis mankind has faced after World War II. It has disturbed not only the economic but political, social, religious and financial structures globally. With businesses collapsing and millions losing their jobs, it has upended every aspect of our lives, education being no exception. Most schools in the country have been...