A press statement issued from the Right to Food Campaign on 27 December, 2016 says that the demonetisation of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/- denomination wreaked havoc on the livelihood security of the poor people. The labouring and toiling masses, who are mostly engaged in the informal sector, have been adversely affected due to the scrapping of old currency notes of Rs. 500/- and Rs. 1000/-...

-Down to Earth Government’s policy decisions and ground reports are in conflict with official data on sowing, production and agriculture insurance The Centre’s claim of 94 million metric tonnes (MT) (2015-16) of wheat production, good sowing acreage and success of agriculture insurance scheme is not in sync with reality as government’s own data do not match agriculture ministry’s claims.   The data related to increased acreage, bumper production and success of agriculture...

Although corruption touches every section of the Indian society, there are very few complaints made against bribery or corrupt people. How can one explain this contradiction? Is it the case that the laws relating to corruption are so weak and toothless in our country that people seldom rely on them to get justice? Recent research based on data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) confirms the above-mentioned fact. Please click...

-Down to Earth The number of non-loanee farmers opting for insurance reached 9.7 million in kharif season of 2016 as against 9.8 million in the same period in 2015    On December 7, the Union Ministry of Agriculture press release claimed that that the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) has made impressive progress in 2016. According to the press release, “There has been a quantum jump of more than six times...

-Hindustan Times Farmers across India are battling a steep fall in wholesale vegetable prices and are forced to discard their produce as a nationwide cash crunch following the scrapping of high-value banknotes hurts demand. The crash in wholesale prices comes at a bad time for farmers, who reaped a bumper crop and were hoping for good returns to make up for losses induced by two straight drought years. Please click here to read...