-The Business Standard     They were unimpressed by the UPA's misguided socialism, but they worry about the new regime's free-market orientation too Consider this paradox. The Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was decimated in the elections in spite of several years of good monsoon and rising agricultural production. Consider another paradox. This was the regime that implemented policies that were presumed to be pro-farmer: the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the...

-The Times of India   KOCHI: A mini tiller was presented to the farmers in Edavanakkad to help them prepare the field for the pokkali crop as the monsoon sets in this week. The tiller machine was handed over on Tuesday by Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), Ernakulam, which functions under the Centre for Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI), Ernakulam. Last month, the machine was given a trial run at different pokkali fields. "The tiller...

-The Hindu     Erode (Tamil Nadu): Farmers here believe the BJP Government's commitment to link agriculture to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) would result in revival of village economy in the long run. Several public works, particularly those aimed at strengthening water bodies, and improving ecological balance, under the programme are already agriculture linked. The works include digging new agriculture ponds, renovating existing ones and other small water bodies, cleaning...

-The United Nations   In the aftermath of the global economic crisis, more than 70 per cent of the world population is without proper social protections, the United Nations labour agency today reported, urging governments to scale up investment in child and family benefits, pensions and other public expenditures. "The global community agreed in 1948 that social security and health care for children, working age people who face unemployment or injury and older...

-The Indian Express   Contrary to conventional wisdom, the UPA lost despite an inclusive, growing economy.   Economists have been busy telling us that the economy decided the election result. We heard it during the campaign and they have been at it again in their post-mortems. They are wrong. Consider some evidence.   Most Indians live in rural areas. Elections are won and lost there. So for any government, it makes good electoral sense to look...