By Prof. Hemantkumar Shah* India ’s ongoing pursuit of free trade agreements is being celebrated by the Union government as a marker of economic maturity and global ambition . Yet for millions of small and marginal farmers , these deals are fast becoming instruments of economic insecurity and creeping dispossession. This warning was voiced sharply at the Kisan Swaraj Sammelan held near Palanpur , where farmers and activists from a dozen states gathered to reflect on policies reshaping Indian agriculture . The core anxiety expressed was simple: free trade agreements are being negotiated quietly and aggressively, and their burden is falling disproportionately on India’s poorest cultivators.
By Palla Trinadha Rao When the separate State of Telangana was formed in 2014, progressive sections of society believed that one of the region’s most enduring injustices—the alienation of tribal land—would finally be addressed. There was widespread expectation that a State born out of a powerful movement against historical neglect would correct the wrongs committed during the era of undivided Andhra Pradesh.