No Country For Farmers: Kota Neelima, Dushyant Dave, Surjit Bhalla with Sanket Upadhyay

“India lives in her villages,” said Gandhi. Although agriculture is the most important sector of the economy, accounting for close to 16 %of the GDP and providing employment to much of the nation's workforce, rural-urban distances and divides continue to grow. The incomprehension between those who contribute to growing our food and those who consume it widens by the day. All political parties claim to represent the farmer but the tiller of the soil is mute and invisible in the process of decision making. Climate change further impacts the uncertainties that farmers face. An engaged panel speaks of the paradoxes of policy and the complex issues involved in bringing about much-needed reforms and discusses the signposts ahead. Kota Neelima is an Indian author, researcher, artist and political commentator, specialising in rural distress, gender and her work focuses on the condition of women farmers, farmer suicides and peripheries of democratic societies. Economist, author and columnist Surjit Bhalla is currently the Executive Director for India at the International Monetary Fund. Dushyant Dave is a senior advocate and former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association. Sanket Upadhyay is an anchor and Executive editor at NDTV.