-The Indian Express Out of the 11 announcements, three concern governance and administrative reforms, including amendment of the Essential Commodities Act (ECA), 1955, and agriculture marketing reforms through a Central law. New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman Friday announced 11 measures for the agriculture sector as part of the third trench of the government’s Rs 20 lakh crore Covid-19 relief package. However, most of these measures are either in place already...
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Enough with the lofty rhetoric. It’s time to let the money do the talk -Himanshu
-Livemint.com Slogans, vision statements and acronyms are unlikely to be of any help to those in distress As the details of the mega fiscal package of ₹20 trillion announced by the prime minister are slowly being revealed by the finance minister (FM), it is increasingly becoming clear that it has less to do with the immediate crisis of lives and livelihood and more to do with the long-term agenda of reforms and...
More »Most small farmers outside formal credit system. Sitharaman’s announcements won’t help them -Shoumitro Chatterjee and Mekhala Krishnamurthy
-ThePrint.in An RBI report says that despite numerous existing initiatives, at most 40 per cent of India’s small and marginal farmers are covered by formal credit. There is no doubt that agricultural credit is a critical element of both agricultural production and marketing across India. However, during a period of acute crisis, the government needs to bank on channels that are relatively robust and far-reaching. Unfortunately, especially when it comes to small...
More »Ensuring food security in times of Covid-19 -Amita Bhaduri
-IndiaWaterPortal.org A study conducted in 47 districts indicates that over half of the surveyed households are eating less during lockdown. The study, ‘Covid-19 induced lockdown - How is hinterland coping’, based on a large survey undertaken by a consortium of civil society organisations undertook a rapid assessment of the impact of series of lockdowns on rural poor households. Of the many coping mechanisms, the most prominent was that over 50 percent of...
More »Less than 50% of households demanding MGNREGS jobs got them -Tina Edwin
-The Hindu Business Line Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha among better performers in providing work: Rural Development Ministry data Less than half the rural households that demanded work in the last 45 days were offered work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), data on the Ministry of Rural Development website show. Data updated as on May 15 show that 2.48 crore rural households across India had demanded work in the...
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