-The Hindu New Delhi: Farmers in eight States including UP, Gujarat and Rajasthan, will be able to sell 25 commodities online in 21 wholesale mandis from Thursday – the new platform hopefully fetching them better prices for their produce. “We have received proposals from 12 States for integration of 365 wholesale mandis. Of these, 21 mandis from eight States have been selected for the pilot launch,” Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said...

-IndiaTimes.com Since 1995, nearly three lakh farmers have committed suicide owing to agrarian crisis in the country. In Maharashtra alone nearly 60,000 farmers have ended their lives in last two decades. Last year itself, the western states recorded 3,228 farmer suicides with maximum cases coming from drought hit Marathwada and Vidharbha region. According to the census, nearly 2,000 farmers across India are giving up agriculture daily and opting for other menial jobs...

-The Hindu Forging gram sabha resolutions clears the path to lucrative mining... Such fictions manufacture on file the legal requirement of villagers’ participation and consent. Over 12,000 villages across Odisha conserve their community forests, says a 2013 Odisha Jungle Manch study. In a visit last October to seven villages in Keonjhar district’s Gandhamardan range, Munda communities showed me their forest protection rosters. Each roster listed four villagers for every weekday to roam...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: The NITI Aayog will draw up schedules for key social sector programmes to counter the criticism that implementation has been slow even two years after the Narendra Modi government took over. The Aayog's Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant made several outcome-based presentations to the Prime Minister last month on sectors such as education, health, rural development and infrastructure. Timelines have been established to achieve progress in areas...

-Outlook Is the devolution of ­national funds to states really worth the praise? * Share of the states in the divisible pool of central taxes has risen from 32% to 42% for five years till 2019-20 * Rise in untied funds transferred is accompanied by cut in Central assistance for state plan spending * Limited ability of the poorer states to expand their fiscal space with own revenue collection * Funds for rural development...