-The Indian Express In many areas, farmers had harvested their crop but did not get time to shift the produce to a dry location as the rain caught them unawares. Farmers in Maharashtra are staring at crop loss of over Rs 5,000 crore across 30 districts after heavy rain caused extensive damage to standing crop in the last few days. The scale of crop loss may be even worse as authorities...

-Financial Express The government’s proposed Unnati scheme, if it works as planned, offers MGNREGA beneficiaries a ticket out of the programme, and, in the long run, out of poverty. It has been clear for a long time that MGNREGA is barely the poverty reduction tool it is often made out to be; at Rs 204 per day per person, the average wage rate across the country is too low to sustain a...

-The Indian Express Stubble management machines, unlike tractors, lie idle for most time, making it an unviable investment “The machine works well, no doubt. But what’s the use if it runs for only 25-30 days and has to be parked in my shed for the rest of the year?” asks Palwinder Singh. The 50-year-old from Sahari village in Gurdaspur district and tehsil has not one, but three Happy Seeders. The first of...

-Hindustan Times Expanding the scheme will improve incomes, boost demand. Along with expanding the scheme, the ministry must also roll out without delay, as promised, a programme for skill building of these workers so they can move up the economic value chain, and also utilise this labour in a proactive manner for water conservation projects, another key programme of the Centre. A report in the Hindustan Times on Monday said that...

-National Herald Odisha government made linking of Aadhaar with PDS compulsory for all beneficiaries; technological issues like low internet penetration contributing to humanitarian crisis After Jharkhand, now several hundreds of ration cardholders from three districts in Odisha have been denied their Public Distribution System (PDS) food grains for at least 60 days mostly on the basis of the failure of Aadhaar system. According to a survey conducted in three districts—Nabarangpur, Nuapada and Malkangiri—...