-Down to Earth Lack of land records, poor Aadhar-linkage can cap disbursement at Rs 3,500 cr this financial year The Narendra Modi government may have to be content spending less than a fifth of what it allocated for its much-touted Pradhan Mandhri KIsan SAmman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) for whatever remains of the current financial year. The lack of detailed land records and gaps in Aadhar-linkages for bank accounts can be major roadblocks. Union minister...

-Hindustan Times Fiscal prudence has been compromised in favour of pleasing every conceivable vote bank the NDA can appeal to What a difference five years make. In July 2014, when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unveiled its first full budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley made clear that the NDA was against “mindless populism”. “India,” he said in a media interaction, “has to make a choice between mindless populism and fiscal prudence…. the...

Against the backdrop of the Finance Minister Shri Piyush Goyal announcing the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKSN) programme during his budget speech on 1st February, 2019, it becomes essential to differentiate between 12.56 crore operational holding households (enumerated, as per the Agriculture Census) and 13.33 crore ownership holding households (estimated, as per the 70th round National Sample Survey report no. 571) pertaining to size upto 2 hectares. In his budget...

-Newsclick.in The Interim Budget granted a paltry Rs 500 per month to farmers as relief, fund cuts for dalits, adivasis and minorities, and was silent on agricultural and industrial workers. It was the theatre of absurd in the Lok Sabha on Friday as replacement Finance Minister Piyush Goyal presented the Interim Budget through an election speech, tom-tomming the so-called achievements of the Narendra Modi government over the past five years, offering an...

-Outlook "The Congress governments in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have waived farmers' loans as promised," he said, adding, "If a Congress-led government comes to power in Delhi, farm loans will be waived across the country." Congress president Rahul Gandhi Sunday said his party would waive farm loans and give a big push to the food processing industry if voted to power in the Lok Sabha elections Alleging that the Centre's crop insurance...