-Down to Earth Low returns and high risks from alternative crops among reasons past efforts failed, says report The Commission for Agricultural Cost and Prices (CACP) has recommended promotion of crop diversification, favouring oilseed crops amid the global inflation in oilseeds and vegetable oils prices. Global inflation creates a structural risk as vegetable oils account for about half of India’s agricultural import, subsequently raising the country’s agri-import bill, the commission wrote in its...

-Hindustan Times During the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown in early 2020, nearly 25,000 migrant workers reached Saharanpur on bicycles while heading back to their native places in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar from their places of work in Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Meerut: The Saharanpur district administration has auctioned 5,400 bicycles left behind by migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar while rushing home during the nationwide lockdown in the wake of...

-TheWire.in After an all-party meeting on June 1, the chief minister said all parties, including the BJP, unanimously supported the move and replied in the negative when asked if he faced any opposition. New Delhi: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday, June 1, said his government would carry out a caste-based “count” instead of a “census” to avoid legal complications. “We will propose a caste-based count, not census, to avoid legal complications,”...

Every year in the month of either February or March, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) announces the notified MGNREGA wage rates (i.e., notified daily wage rates for MGNREGA workers) for various states and Union Territories (UTs) for the upcoming financial year. The MGNREGA rates are notified every year based on the increase in Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL). Like the previous years, in 2021 too, experts and civil...

-IndiaToday.in The recent National Family Health Survey that was conducted between 2019 and 2021 busts many myths and also confirms some ugly realities of India. Numbers and data should be the two deities that any self-respecting media professional should respect and revere. Unfortunately, in the din and noise of acrimonious debates that revolve around matters of faith, a treasure trove of fascinating data that showcases an India that is both changing and...