-Working Paper No. 75, July 2019, Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar This study looks into four broad questions on smallholder agriculture, that is, the marginal and small farm sizes that constitute more than 85 per cent of the operational holdings in India. Are returns to smallholder agriculture sustainable? Is the smallholder agriculture efficient? Does the smallholder have access to formal sources of credit? Is credit provided by formal sources...

-Press statement by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha dated 19 July, 2019 While it is heartening that a discussion on rural development lasted for nine hours in Parliament with important issues on MGNREGA being raised, we are deeply disappointed at the statement of the Rural Development Minister that not only displays a lack of understanding of the program but also betrays the clear anti-poor sentiment of this government. On the central issue of inadequate...

  During budget presentations, budget documents, which are provided, carry updated data and information related to various departments and ministries of the Central Government such as on revenues, expenditures, deficits etc. Recently econoMISts like Dr. Rathin Roy and Prof. Jayati Ghosh have expressed concerns about the Ministry of Finance for not uploading updated and appropriate budgetary data and figures on the website www.indiabudget.gov.in following the 2019-20 Union Budget presentation by the...

-The Hindu The focus is on preparing residents of 1,517 habitations to take the test by 2020 KALPETTA (Kerala): After making two successful forays into the tribal hamlets of Wayanad, Kerala’s State Literacy MISsion (SLM) is all set to earn the ‘100% literate’ badge for the outlier region, which has the highest tribal population among all districts. Tribal pockets are among a handful of areas where full literacy remains elusive in the...

-Outlook The government got Rs 65 crore by selling data of approximately 25 crore vehicle registrations and 15 crore driving licences. However, is selling this data legal? Is the data actually ‘public’? Isn't it intrusion on privacy? On July 8, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari responded to an unstarred question by Congress Rajya Sabha MP Husain Dalwai on details of data sold by the government “by providing access...