-Down to Earth The fracas over India's refusal to meet the deadline on trade facilitation exposes rich nations' double standards NOTHING HAS exposed the double standards at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) than the current uproar over the implementation of two agreements at the global trade policing organisation. One, termed Public Stockholding for Food Security Purposes, protects the food security concerns of millions of the poor and the livelihood of millions of...
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Scattered approach to agriculture -Sukhpal Singh and Suman Sahai
-The Hindu Business Line Leaving aside a focus on warehousing and farm credit, the Budget has sprayed ₹100 crore across a clutter of schemes The new government's budget is marked by a fractured approach to the farm sector, where perhaps the most significant spend has been on irrigation, after the large allocation to farm credit. Credit push A sum of ₹1,000 crore sounds good if instead of large irrigation projects and canal networks, the...
More »Andhra Pradesh counters RBI's claims -Jinka Nagaraju
-The Times of India In a sternly-worded letter dashed off to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Andhra Pradesh government has urged the institution to not underestimate the distressful conditions prevailing in the state for the past three years, which has forced as many as 6,792 farmers to commit suicide. The nine-page letter dated July 25, countering RBI's argument about AP reporting no cases of acute concern among farmers, has been...
More »The debt trap -Jaspal Singh
-TwoCircles.net Punjab is considered to be one of the most prosperous states in India.A study came out a few days ago that states that 98% of rural households are in debt.The average amount of debt per household is close to 5 Lakh Rupees. The report points out that more than half of the debt is to non institutional lenders,the Arhtias,the middlemen and money lenders.Small and marginal farmers can not go to...
More »Decline in Homeless Population: Census Data
As the country celebrates 68th anniversary of her independence this year, recent data from the Census 2011 reveals that the population of homeless declined by 8.8% between 2001 and 2011 to reach 17.7 lakhs. This means that 4.5 lakh households (of average household size 3.9) still do not have any shelter to sleep safely. Although the percentage share of homeless in total population is miniscule (i.e. 0.15%), in absolute numbers...
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