-The Hindu Business Line 1.5 times the defence budget may be needed for unproductive animals: Economist Rawal New Delhi: The ban on cow slaughter can pose a serious threat to the Indian economy in the near future, as the country may have to spend 1.5 times its current Defence Budget to take care of an additional 27 crore unproductive animals annually, an agricultural economist has warned. Speaking at a function organised by Bhumi Adhikar Andolan, a...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Amid cow vigilantism, a professor of economics specialising in agrarian issues today wondered aloud whether those demanding a nationwide ban on cow slaughter had thought about its fallout, more so as a beginning had been made with the restrictions on the sale of animals for slaughter at cattle markets. A calculation by professor Vikas Rawal of the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School...

-Business Standard/ IndiaSpend Seven of the nine 'high-focus' states report underspending on healthcare Nine of India’s poorest states–home to 581 million or 48% of India’s population–account for 70% of the country’s infant deaths, 75% of under-five deaths and 62% of maternal deaths, but do not spend even the money they have set aside for healthcare, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of 2017 Reserve Bank of India data on state budgets. The data also...

-AsianAge.com Now farmers have started to awaken the nation to the farming crisis with strikes in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Indian civilisation is based on gratitude to our farmers and all beings who contribute to our food — annadata sukhibhava. Our traditional belief is “Uttam-kheti, madhyam-vyapar, neech-naukri”. The combination of the Green Revolution in Punjab imposed in the 1960s and the corporate globalisation “reforms” started in the 1990s have created policies for annadata...

-India Today While politicians are busy earning brownie points through waving off farmer loans, the farmers in Maharashtra's Pune and Ahmednagar districts have a different story to tell. I had decided to check whether the farmers in Maharashtra are really in favour of the loan waiver after the opposition members were screaming in the legislature almost every day, during the budget session which began on March 9 and concluded on April 17....