-Newsclick.in Privatisation of grain procurement and cap on procurement subsidies are among the ideas being floated. Amid a slew of worrying news on the food grain front, the Narendra Modi-led government not only appears to be strangely cool, but it is also throwing up bizarre proposals to change the whole procurement-distribution system. This could be the famous ‘using a crisis as an opportunity’ mode of thinking that has led to catastrophic effects...

-Deccan Herald The triumvirate of structural, cyclical and policy implementation challenges all have a role to play in this undesirable outcome While India’s unemployment challenge has assumed a worrying proportion and is now being looked at as the most important headwind for the prospect of post-pandemic economic recovery, it was a long time in the making. The triumvirate of structural, cyclical and policy implementation challenges all have a role to play in this...

-TheWire.in While the state government will still officially purchase the paddy on October 1 as planned, it assured the farmers that it would begin lifting the crop immediately and would procure a greater amount at MSP. New Delhi: Protesting farmers in Haryana lifted their 21-hour blockade on National Highway 44 in Shahabad in the state’s Kurukshetra area on Saturday, September 24, after the state government agreed to their demands regarding the procurement...

-The Hindu The affidavit goes against the 2011 recommendation of National Commission for Scheduled Castes With the Supreme Court awaiting the Union government’s present position on including Dalit Christians as members of Scheduled Castes (SCs), the Narendra Modi government’s latest standing on this aspect has been to reject any such proposition, according to an affidavit filed by the government in November 2019, which also said Dalits who converted to Buddhism could not...

-The Telegraph Number of girls born per 1,000 boys improves by three points from an average 904 in 2017-19 to 907 in (the partly overlapping period of) 2018-20 India’s latest population sample registration survey has shown improvements in child mortality and the average sex ratio at birth. But that ratio — a possible indicator of pre-natal sex determination and sex-selective abortions — has declined in 10 states, including Bengal. The Union health ministry, releasing...