-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday placed the issue of “population explosion” on the national front-burner, calling it a challenge and exhorting the Centre and states to devise schemes to tackle it. In his Independence Day speech from the Red Fort, Modi said the rising population was a cause for worry and posed new challenges for the present and the future. He said citizens with small...

-Hindustan Times If Indian cities have become successful in turning away migrants, we should see that as the first sign of their demise, not their dynamism. “Stop migration into cities.” These were the words of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman during last week’s budget speech, even as she — confusingly — called urbanization an “opportunity rather than a challenge.” A call to stop rural-urban migration should alarm, but not surprise us. The FM’s statement...

--The Indian Express Replacing subsidies with direct cash transfers to farmers’ accounts will empower them as well as consumers. In her budget speech, the Union finance minister (FM) said: “At the centre of everything that we do, we keep gaon, garib aur kisan in mind.” Here then is a small mantra for her to transform the lives of the kisan and the poor in rural areas. Just streamline the food and...

-Newsclick.in “Our population today is around 136 crore. Where will you get food grains for them through zero budget farming? This is sheer madness.” There is an inherent seductive charm to the term zero budget natural farming, for it makes the arduous occupation of agriculture appear beguilingly simple, an economic proposition without any risk or even requirement of capital. Coined by the Vidarbha-based farmer, Subhash Palekar, who was bestowed with the Padma...

-The New Indian Express Tamil Nadu’s population is set to see a decline during 2031-41, unless offset by inward migration, with its population peaking at 2031, according to the latest economic survey. CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s population is set to see a decline during 2031-41, unless offset by inward migration, with its population peaking at 2031, according to the latest economic survey. The decline is projected at 0.05 per cent. “Population growth will...