-Livemint.com * The supply chain disruption in poultry continues, further hurting the nutritional standards of poorer households * The current steep prices of items that make up the retail food basket—be it eggs, pulses or vegetables—is evidently taking a toll on millions of Indian households NEW DELHI: Banks should not advance large loans to farmers, least of all to those in the poultry business, an exasperated Ramesh Mehla said over the phone. He...

-TheThirdPole.net More than 100 million people live without access to safe water in Southeast Asia, Sam Geall writes about what can be done to improve that and to protect clean water sources On 6 November, the Mekong River Commission acknowledged that climate change had exacerbated this year’s wildly varying water levels on the Mekong – which saw the mighty river reduced to a trickle in parts, even during the rainy season. But...

-TheWire.in Though there is no road map to reduce the production of wheat and rice, it is now possible to reduce India's dependence on Punjab and Haryana for food security by procuring from non-traditional states. Since the enactment of three agriculture legislations by the Centre in September, sections of the media have rightly or wrongly projected Punjab, and to a much lesser extent Haryana, as a villain. This has led many to believe...

-The Hindu Multiple bank visits, repeated rejections and biometric errors mar payment system, says study. For most rural workers dependent on the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), their labour does not end at the work site. According to a study by LibTech India released on Wednesday, many of them are forced to make multiple trips to the bank, adding travel costs and income losses, and face repeated rejections of...

Just before Dhanteras and Diwali this year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the November edition of its monthly bulletin. The latest RBI Monthly Bulletin says that the GDP has contracted by -8.6 percent in the second quarter of fiscal year 2020-21 (i.e. July-September, 2020) as compared to the gross domestic product (GDP) during the corresponding period last year. It may be noted that India’s GDP shrunk by -23.9...