If someone is a rural male, what occupation would he prefer? A rational person might say that depending on the highest prevailing daily wage rate in a particular occupation (which is subject to seasonal variation) vis-à-vis the rest, he will make his choice.   An exercise undertaken by the Inclusive Media for Change team based on the latest available month-wise wage data of rural men shows that there is a seasonal variation...

-Hindustan Times State food minister Saryu Roy said the state’s recommendation for cancelling the pilot project for direct transfer of food subsidy will be forwarded to the Centre this week. Ranchi: The BJP ruled Jharkhand government has decided to ask the Centre to withdraw its pilot project for direct transfer of food subsidy into account of beneficiaries in place of ration as it was causing immense trouble to the poor and was...

-The Indian Express Yogendra Yadav said that a greater crop procurement often means lower prices and in the process, ends up hurting the already distressed farmer. New Delhi: A day after haryana’s Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Om Prakash Dhankar announced that the state has recorded a ‘bumper’ wheat crop this year, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav on Wednesday said that these statistics mean little to the farmers. “Unfortunately, state policy on...

-The Telegraph Chandigarh: The Congress government in Punjab, like the Mamata Banerjee dispensation in Bengal, has refused to implement the flagship health insurance scheme of the Centre. While the other north Indian states under BJP rule - haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir - have signed the memorandum of understanding with the Union health ministry to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme, the Amarinder Singh government in Punjab has refused to...

-Business Standard From occupying 3% of all sugarcane area in the state in 2012-13, the variety that now covers 52% New Delhi: India’s sugar sector is staring at an unprecedented glut, with production topping 31 million tonnes. Sugar is suddenly tasting bitter as mills are finding it difficult to pay sugarcane farmers in the politically sensitive state of Uttar Pradesh. At the heart of the surplus lies a new variety of sugarcane called CO-0238,...