-Down to Earth Income inequality makes agrarian crisis challenging; inequality is worse among farmers than the formal economy Economists Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty recently concluded after a long study that inequality is at its peak in India. It is embedded in popular conscience: “Top 1 per cent of earners captured 22 per cent of total income in the country.” Their study–covering consumption, government accounts and income tax data from 1922...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The ponds and wells dug under the rural job guarantee scheme have boosted farmers' income by an average 15 per cent, a study has found. The finding by the Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, appears to contradict charges that the scheme has lagged in asset creation and been largely a failure. According to the survey, farmers reported an 11 per cent rise in rice and wheat production and...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Eight key states logged a massive increase in demand for work under the job guarantee scheme MGNREGA this fiscal, an increase that is seen as astronomical in the history of the programme. Three other states saw high demand during the earlier part of the year but have registered a sharp fall in later months. Still, the annual demand for work under MGNREGA is projected to stay...

-The Hindu Business Line Akshaya Patra launches pilots with millet-based menu in Karnataka, Telangana Bengaluru: Nutrient-rich millets such as jowar, foxtail and pearl millets, considered as smart foods, are being introduced in the mid-day meal schemes in Karnataka and Telangana by the The Akshaya Patra Foundation (TAPF) on a pilot basis. The move is aimed at enhancing the nutritional intake of the students of the government and aided schools, besides benefiting the growers. Students...

-The Hindu Bengaluru: Aadhaar, an identity number issued to all Indians based on their biometric and demographic data, faces a potential threat from cyber criminals which can cripple the economy, according to a white paper done by the Institute for Development and Research in Banking, which is affiliated to the Reserve Bank of India. “Thanks to Aadhaar, for the first time in the history of India, there is now a readily...