Reporters Without Orders Ep 285: Farm laws and corporatisation of agriculture

This week, host Basant Kumar is joined by The Reporters’ Collective journalist Shreegireesh Jalihal.

Shreegireesh had reported how an NRI businessman, linked to the BJP, had sent a proposal to the Niti Aayog to corporatise the agriculture sector – paving the way to the farm laws that were repealed after wide-spread protests. He divulged his findings regarding the making of the controversial laws and shed light on how a government-appointed task force served as a “lobbying platform for corporates”. 

He also shared that the government’s task force consulted mostly big corporations such as the Adani group, Patanjali, BigBasket, Mahindra Group and ITC. He delved into how farm laws accommodated corporate interest at the cost of the farmers’ welfare. He also highlighted that the Adani group had advocated to remove restrictions on corporates hoarding agricultural commodities.

Tune in.

Timecodes

00:00:00 - Introduction

00:01:18 - Farm law committee

00:37:10 - Recommendations

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Produced by Saif Ali Ekram, recorded by Anil Kumar, and edited by Umrav Singh Gurjar.