-The Hindu Business Line A low turnout at the famous Puskhar fair highlights the declining interest in the once-popular profession of camel herding The Pushkar Fair, held annually in Rajasthan’s Ajmer, is known as one of the world’s largest cattle fairs. It also celebrates the age-old traditions of the pastoralist camel-herding Raika tribe. On November 4-12, more than 1,000 of the community’s camel herders arrived with their livestock at the fair. They...

-The Hindu It is imperative to focus on agricultural production in devising a long-term solution to the problem of unemployment At a panel discussion hosted recently by the students of Delhi’s Ambedkar University, the topic was, ‘Are we heading for an economic crisis?’ Presumably, they had been prompted by the all-absorbing news of a slowing economy. It is indeed correct that such a slowing is taking place. Growth has slowed for the...

-The Indian Express Why tax sops are not enough? What can policy makers do? The story so far: A worryingly persistent slowdown dragged economic growth in India down to 5% in the fiscal first quarter, its weakest pace in more than six years. And while the recent weeks have seen the possible reasons for the slowdown, as well as the government’s policy measures to ostensibly help revive the economy being put under...

-The Hindu Putting more money in the hands of rural households will stir up the economy The government’s statistical machinery has begun work on revising the indices that capture the trends in consumer prices experienced in rural India. This opens up the prospect for an upward revision in the wages paid out to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The current national average wage is just about...

Almost one in every five suicides in the world is committed by self-poisoning with pesticide, which mostly occur in rural, agricultural areas of low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), states a new publication entitled 'Preventing Suicide: A resource for pesticide registrars and regulators'. Published jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the booklet says that the adoption of green revolution technology...