Contrary to the rising economic distress on the ground since the last few years, the official press release related to the fourth Annual Report on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) at first glance seems to give a rosy picture about the employment situation in India.  Defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force, the unemployment rate in usual status (principal activity status + subsidiary economic activity status)...

-ThePrint.in Dhanashakti has more iron compared to regular varieties of pearl millet. Scientist Mahalingam Govindaraj says about 10 biofortified varieties have been released in last 8 years. New Delhi: Telangana-based agriculture scientist Mahalingam Govindaraj has won the coveted 2022 Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application for developing a variety of pearl millet rich in iron and zinc. The variety, named Dhanashakti, is the world’s first biofortified pearl millet or bajra...

-Scroll.in From reduced productivity leading to lowered incomes, to dangerous indoor heat as a result of cramped conditions, extreme weather is taking its toll. Each night, Aliya Shakir Sheikh keeps one eye fixed on her toddler and three-day-old baby. At the same time, she struggles to stay focused on work, painstakingly sticking tiny, shiny stones onto embroidered cloth by hand. Time is of the essence: the unbearable heat has already made her...

-The Hindu With government yet to begin procurement, many are forced to destroy their yield unable to meet even the transport cost Exactly five years after a police firing claimed the lives of six garlic farmers in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandsaur who were protesting demanding minimum support price for their produce, farmers in the districts bordering Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are up in arms against the State and Union governments for price as...

-Scroll.in The demand for equitable access to quality education and healthcare should complement agriculture reforms in the country. It has been more than six months since the Samyukt Kisan Morcha – the umbrella organisation representing protesting Indian farmers – ended its 15-month-long agitation at Delhi’s borders against the three farm laws. Some of their demands were met, while their demand for a Minimum Support Price guarantee remains unfulfilled. These developments do little to...