-The Hindu The growing chorus for a universal basic income is a ruse to eliminate or roll back significantly the public distribution system and signature welfare programmes The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) has been gaining ground globally. While Switzerland held a referendum on it last year (it was voted down), Finland introduced it earlier this month. Media reports suggest that the government of India’s flagship Economic Survey this year...
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The solution to saving native cattle breeds lies in organic farming practices, not jallikattu -Aparna Rajagopal
-Scroll.in A farmer describes her efforts to preserve 12 breeds of draught as well milch indigenous cattle. On Monday, the so-far peaceful protests against jallikattu on Chennai’s Marina Beach turned violent as the police sought to clear agitators from what had become ground zero of the movement against the Supreme Court ban on the bull-taming sport. Though an ordinance cleared on Saturday allowed the sport to take place this Pongal, the controversy...
More »Case for targeted basic income -Puja Mehra
-The Hindu The idea of a basic income is not new. The first known suggestion on an unconditional universal basic income for all adults regardless of other income sources was from Thomas More. Centuries later, in 1918, Bertrand Russell discussed a basic income sufficient for necessities as central to the social model combining the advantages of anarchism and socialism that he argued for in Proposed Roads to Freedom. “A certain small...
More »In villages where it flows, SYL canal matters less than Jobs -Jagdeep Singh Deep
-The Indian Express The Congress for its part has claimed that it was the one that “saved” Punjab’s water as it had cancelled the SYL agreement with Haryana during its 2002-2007 term in office, when Amarinder Singh was chief minister. Kapoori (Patiala): When Harinder Harry discusss the elections in Punjab, he talks about unemployment, drugs and several other issues, but makes no mention of the one thing that his village is famous...
More »Banarasi sari industry in trouble as traditional credit vanishes after note ban -Omar Rashid
-The Hindu The ‘batta’ system of rolling financing has shrunk as money cannot be withdrawn from banks, and bearer cheques pile up Varanasi: For the already distressed weavers and poorly paid labourers in the famous Banarasi sari industry, demonetisation has come as a crippling blow. Withdrawal limits of Rs. 50,000 on current accounts (around a 10th of the actual requirement in the trade) and falling business post November 8 have constrained traders from...
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