-The Times of India blog With little over than a year left for the 2019 general elections, the Narendra Modi led NDA government has finally remembered the farmers of the country. Last week, finance minister Arun Jaitley said agriculture sector is the government’s top priority in this year’s budget. This has left many surprised considering BJP had promised to ensure a minimum of 50% profit over cost of production in their...
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Ignore Rural Anger at Your Own Peril -V Rajagopal
-TheWire.in The Gujarat election results are a wake-up call for the key political parties, as they gear up to draw strategies for the ensuing elections to three states. The years 2018 and 2019 are going to be hectic with elections scheduled for some state assemblies and to parliament. The issues that confront the citizens are many, ranging from financial to livelihood, farm operations to health and education to rural development. The performance...
More »Every year, farmers lose Rs 63,000 crore for not being able to sell their produce -Richard Mahapatra and Kiran Pandey
-Down to Earth That explains why agrarian riots have increased by over 600 per cent in the last three years Whenever agriculture makes headlines, ironically, they hide more stories of distress. For sixth consecutive year, horticulture (fruits and vegetables) production has outstripped food grain production. Apparently, it is encouraging news given that farmers earn more from vegetables and fruits than food grains. But around the same time, reports of farmers dumping...
More »Budget 2018: Trade unions urge govt to focus on employment generation
-PTI The leaders claimed thousands of people had lost their jobs because of demonetisation Trade Unions want the government to allocate more funds in the Union Budget for employment generation and claimed that opening up the retail market to foreign players would lead to further loss of jobs. Though Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said suggestions made by TU leaders during a pre-budget consultation meet last month would be considered, the leaders felt...
More »Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at IIT-Delhi, interviewed by Surabhi (The Hindu Business Line)
-The Hindu Business Line The government must universalise social security pensions for the elderly, single women and persons with disabilities and also operationalise the maternity entitlement scheme at the earliest, says Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at IIT-Delhi. In an interview to BusinessLine, Khera argued against the use of Aadhaar for authentication of beneficiaries and said it has “no role in plugging leakages or in the identification of correct beneficiaries”....
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