-The Indian Express Rahul Gandhi’s proposed scheme will do more harm than good if it comes at the cost of existing subsidies for the poor. Congress president Rahul Gandhi signaled the earnestness of his party’s resolve to end poverty and hunger by announcing an untried policy instrument — a Minimum Income Guarantee for the poor. “Millions of our brothers and sisters” could not be allowed to “suffer the scourge of poverty”...

-The Indian Express On Wednesday evening, a meeting had taken place between Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, representatives of various banks and farmer union leaders. Ludhiana: ON THE fourth day of protests over banks taking action against farmers in cheque bounce cases, farmers’ groups sat on a dharna blocking the Ludhiana-Ferozpur state highway after talks with banks and government representatives failed. The farmers are protesting against banks’ practice of taking blank cheques...

-Business Standard Court gives states till July 27 to evict tribals based on a petition filed by wildlife groups questioning the validity of the Forest Rights Act. New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the forced eviction of more than 1,000,000 tribal and other forest-dwelling households from forestlands across 16 states after the government failed to defend a law protecting their rights. The final country-wide numbers of forced evictions are likely to rise...

  The budgetary allocation for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) as a proportion of total budgetary expenditure has been reduced marginally during the Interim Budget 2019-20. It may have happened because the coverage of gross cropped area under the scheme could not keep pace with the target that was set during the last two years. The Status of Implementation of Budget Announcements 2017-18, which was presented during the Union Budget 2018-19,...

-The Indian Express Social policy is in danger of getting lost in electoral histrionics. As the country inches towards parliamentary elections, a deep confusion pervades the realm of social policy. When the Narendra Modi government came to power five years ago, there were high expectations of a rollback in welfare schemes. The previous government, so went the story, had gone overboard with social spending, and Modi would set this right. In...