-The Hindu The fact that a megapolis, and not the drought-affected areas of Maharashtra, is the biggest beneficiary, has angered many Bristling with glass towers and commercial districts, Mumbai is unquestionably the financial capital of India. The most greenery an average Mumbaikar can hope to grow is a few herbs in window flower-pots. Which is why it seems strange that the city will be the biggest beneficiary of agriculture loans, as projected by...

-Outlook A visit to Bundelkhand reveals a chilling state of affairs—one wrought in equal amount by nature, state negligence and policy failure Her answer still rings in my ears. “Bhaiyya, saawan ke mahine me ek paav daal laye thhe” (Brother, we last bought 250 grams of dal during the rains). I had asked her when was the last time she cooked dal for her family. This was village Mastapur in Tikamgarh...

-Business Standard Four of the 6 large states have seen uptick in rural wages, following equally sharp increase in coverage of the rural employment guarantee scheme After months of stagnation, rural wages have started inching up, albeit marginally. Coinciding with a renewed push to the rural employment guarantee scheme in the second half of 2015, rural wages have shown a marginal uptick since August. It remained nearly flat from December 2014 to...

-Business Standard To be announced in next few weeks and in coming Budget To widen its rural push and to counter the Opposition's allegation that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government is anti-poor, the Centre is mulling multiple interventions which would include expanding the role of women-driven self help groups (SHGs) and promoting self-employment for rural youth. Some official said the new crop insurance scheme, approved by the Cabinet recently is part of...

-Economic and Political Weekly Agriculture cannot be revived without a different approach to water, soil, crops and research. For the second year in succession, rainfall in the monsoon season has been less than normal. As many as 302 out of the 640 districts in the country have been declared drought-hit and the impact of the drought is the severest in nine major states of south, central and east India. It is striking...