In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-Business Standard Since jobs will remain scarce for the foreseeable future, an unemployment allowance should be the next big social-security initiative, writes T N Ninan Crises in the Indian economy used to be the “normal”. In the 12 years from 1962 to 1974, India fought three wars, suffered four droughts that produced famine in places like Bihar, and lived through the first oil shock, which saw a quadrupling of crude oil prices. The...

-The Tribune Minimising paddy straw burning needs multi-pronged and eco-friendly approaches. There is no single solution to manage its massive quantities. All on-field and off-field technologies have limitations. Combined, they would improve soil health, grain production and fertiliser-use efficiency, reduce pollution, and ensure long-term agriculture sustainability. Concerted efforts are needed to make eco-friendly techniques economically viable, especially for small farmers. WITH mechanised farming and assured irrigation, farmers of northwest India raise 2-3...

-The Hindu Business Line Indian farmers gain as local wheat, maize, soyabean and mustard prices rise Prices of agricultural commodities, particularly wheat, maize, soyabean and palm oil, dropped significantly in the global market during the weekend, after having surged on February 24 when Russia ordered its troops into Ukraine.  The rates of most of these commodities dropped by over five per cent as members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) led by...

-Livemint.com From the large volume of portability transactions under ONORC, it is evident that the beneficiaries are leveraging the facility of ration portability to access their NFSA as well as PMGKAY Foodgrains from any FPS of their choice, without being dependent on the tagged ration shop in the ration card, Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey said About 56 crore ration card portability transactions have taken place till January 31, since the launch...