-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The election results in which BJP lost three key states have once again pointed to the agrarian crisis and triggered demands for loan waivers. Pressure on the Centre has intensified ahead of the 2019 polls and comes against the backdrop of a tight fiscal situation. The government has committed itself to meet the fiscal deficit target of 3.3% of GDP. In the aftermath of several states...

-The Indian Express The number of Muslim MLAs in the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh Assemblies are now two and one, up from one and none respectively in the 2013 Houses. Bhopal, Hyderabad, Jaipur, New Delhi, Raipur: The number of Muslim MLAs in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh jumped from three after the 2013 elections to 11 Tuesday as the Congress swept the BJP out of power in the three heartland states....

-The Indian Express “Incomes” not rising, due to low crop prices and stagnating wages, has more than offset any “asset” gains in the recent period, which also probably explains the party’s heavy losses in the three states it ruled, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. New Delhi: The big rural economy takeaway for the BJP from the just-concluded assembly elections is that mere asset creation — building roads, houses and toilets or...

-The Indian Express In the absence of patience and vision, the loan waiver remains the most favoured response to farm distress Thousands of farmers from different parts of India marched to Delhi on November 29-30 to register their protest against the Narendra Modi government’s perceived apathy and neglect of farmers’ demands. They were basically demanding three things: One, debate in Parliament to discuss farm distress; two, one-time loan waiver; and three,...

-The Hindu 'Will take up their genuine demands with govt.’ The BJP’s Kisan Morcha has invited farmers’ groups across the country for a dialogue on rural distress after several marches and agitations by them in the last year or so, with Morcha chief Virendra Singh Mast conceding that loan waivers were a “temporary solution” to what ails the farm sector. At a press conference in New Delhi, Mr. Mast said: “I had invited...