-Newsclick.in “Our population today is around 136 crore. Where will you get food grains for them through zero budget farming? This is sheer madness.” There is an inherent seductive charm to the term zero budget natural farming, for it makes the arduous occupation of agriculture appear beguilingly simple, an economic proposition without any risk or even requirement of capital. Coined by the Vidarbha-based farmer, Subhash Palekar, who was bestowed with the Padma...

-Down to Earth The method was promoted as low-cost investment on part of farmers, but huge amounts are being raised for statewide implementation Andhra Pradesh has played a leading role in promoting agroecological farming in the past two decades. The Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) initiative of the state is often cited as a major intervention which encouraged farmers to gradually move away from chemical-intensive farming. However, despite such efforts, just 1...

-Livemint.com * Contrary to popular belief, the Economic Survey 2019 says “dwarfs”—over 10-year-old firms with less than 100 employees—which account for a majority of firms in organized manufacturing, hold back job creation and productivity * Mint explains why it is so and the way out How do small and young firms fare in terms of job creation? The Economic Survey says the contribution of small firms to output and employment in the manufacturing sector...

In a recent blog post, Columbia University professor Arvind Panagariya mentions that the critics of the present Prime Minister of India failed to underscore ‘employment rate’ -- flip side of unemployment rate -- that stood at nearly 94 percent according to the report on Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017-18. A recent article by Dr. Vikas Rawal and Prachi Bansal, however, points out that in order to understand the problem of joblessness...

-The New Indian Express The draft on Odisha's new farming policy is being worked out through consultation with experts, universities, civil society and farmers’ groups. BHUBANESWAR: With farmers’ issues taking political centre stage and doubling farmers income being the prime agenda, the State Government has initiated steps to bring out an updated and dynamic agricultural policy keeping in tune with the changing conditions of agriculture and agricultural market. A draft policy is being...