ISSN (Print) - 0012-9976 | ISSN (Online) - 2349-8846

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Foodstuffs Market Regulation

Despite several objections, the three farm laws, including the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, were enacted with full force by the union government. However, after more than a year of the farmers’ agitation, the government decided to withdraw these laws. The amended ECA had some contradictory provisions and, in sum, limited the scope for regulation by local/state/union governments. The present article discusses the provisions of the amended ECA and its impact on the scope for regulation of the foodstuffs market.

Concept of Development and Hegemonic World Order

Erasing the Binary Distinction of Developed and Underdeveloped: A Comparative Study of the Emergence of the Large-scale Steel Industry in Imperial Russia, Imperial Britain, Imperial America, and Colonial India, 1880–1914 by Vinay Bahl, US: Shunya, 2019; pp 417, price not indicated.

The Government’s Retreat from Agricultural Policy

The Government of Bihar repealed the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act in 2006 intending to encourage private parties in agricultural marketing, which was supposed to provide more options to farmers to sell their produce. The experience from the state suggests that repealing the APMC Act did not persuade private entities to set up agricultural markets. This saw the number of mandis remaining stagnant, and with poor agricultural market density combined with negligible public procurement, it led to a lower price realisation by farmers in the state.

Marginalised Migrants and Bihar as an Area of Origin

Outmigration from Bihar in search of livelihood has been normalised over several decades, with Bihar being one of the topmost states of origin for the migrants. Unemployment rate in Bihar remains higher than the country average. Agriculture has become unviable over the years due to low yields, increasing landlessness and lack of financial support by the state. The return migration to the state in the wake of COVID-19 necessitates that the state generate farm and non-farm employment to address the crisis situation.

COVID-19 and the Public Health System in Bihar

Bihar’s public healthcare system is not equipped to deal with the challenge of COVID-19. The density of testing centres is the worst for Bihar in the country, with one testing centre for a population of 110 million. Besides, it lacks in both infrastructure and human resources in the health arena and, thus, is unprepared to deal with and properly respond to the health crisis.

Winners and Losers of India’s Mutating Petroleum Policy

In the last 25 years, the Indian petroleum sector has gone through several structural changes. Each stage of these reforms has favoured private sector companies, signifying a loosening of government control on the sector that had been asserted through investing in public sector oil companies in the 1970s.

Child Marriage

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 is apparently aimed at prohibiting marriage of any girl below 18 years of age and any boy below 21 years of age. However, according to the District Level Household and Facility Survey-3 (DLHS-3) data brought out in 2010, 43% of women in India aged...
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