-The Hindu In the farm laws debate, the focus should be on the exchequer-farm subsidies issue and the spending on farm subsidies In the on-going debates around the three new pieces of agricultural legislation and the farmers’ demand for continuation of minimum support prices (MSP), questions have often been raised whether the government should be using the taxpayers’ money to provide subsidies to the farming community in this country. However, logically, two...

-Newsclick.in Unemployment has inched up to over 9% as the year ends and the so-called economic recovery is a mirage. For Indians, 2020 will go down in history as the worst year for livelihoods and incomes. Unemployment levels rose to record highs, incomes plummeted to record lows and such was the scale of deprivation that thousands of families teetered on the brink of starvation. Tragically, this was not just the pandemic. It...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural Economy run in the state. But...

-Business Standard While the agitating farmers are clamouring for its continuation, the mechanism is a drain on govt resources, with the Centre buying far in excess of what it needs for distribution under PDS As thousands of farmers brave the winter chill to agitate against the three farm acts, a dominant fear for most of them is the impact that dismantling of the Minimum Support Price (MSP)-based mechanism will have on their...

-The Indian Express India's Economy in 2020: As Annus Horribilis 2020 comes to an end, there are positives in the Economy: signs of a GDP rebound, and buoyant equity markets. But demand is weak, receipts are down, and the employment situation is grim. All eyes are on the Budget — and on the vaccines In a little over a month, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present what she has heralded as “a...