-Gaon Coonection Half of the southwest monsoon season is almost over, and several districts in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are still waiting for good rainfall. Paddy and pulses farmers are staring at a wilting crop. They fear a drought year ahead. Panna, Madhya Pradesh  "July is about to end, but where is the rain?"  With a marked anxiety in his voice, Malkhan Singh Gaud, a 55-year-old farmer from Madhya...

-Down to Earth The Union government's claim about being on track to double farmers' income sounds hollow as it has not even spent the allocated budget for agrarian schemes in three of the past five years  On February 28, 2016 Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to double farmers’ income by 2022-23—his gift to the country in its 75th year of independence. In the six years since then, the Union government has not...

-CounterCurrent.org According to a NITI Aayog recent report titled ‘India’s Booming Gig and Platform Economy’ India’s gig workforce, estimated to be at 77 lakh in 2020-21. It is expected to go up to 2.35 crore by 2029-30. Gig worker are defined by Niti Aayog as those engaged in livelihoods outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement. Gig workers can be broadly classified into platform and non-platform-based workers. Platform workers are those whose work...

With the release of a UNDESA report on the World Population Day this year i.e., July 11, once again the debate on who's responsible for the population growth in India has resurfaced. Titled World Population Prospects 2022, the report states that the global population is expected to touch 8 billion on November 15, 2022, and India is projected to exceed China as the world’s most populous country in 2023.  As soon as...

-RuralIndiaOnline.com In this region of the Himalayas, shepherds brave the wet and cold weather to graze their sheep and goats. They also protect them from wild animals on the Gangotri range where they live for up to nine months a year “In a year we lose many animals to leopards. They come at night and snatch them away,” says shepherd Gaur Singh Thakur. Even the native Bhutia dog, Sheroo, cannot keep them...