-The Hindu In addition to reforming the credit system, agriculture should be made profitable Rural agrarian distress is firmly at the centre of the national discourse today, triggered by the recent Assembly election results in the Hindi heartland as well as continuous farmer agitations in the past two years (picture). Just a month ago, the farmers’ march in Delhi highlighted the reality of their deprivation, anger and resolve. Quite remarkably, their presence...

-Livemint.com Despite the rush in the construction of toilets since the launch of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’s launch on 2 October, India has the highest rate of open defecation in the world The Swachh Bharat Mission hopes to make India open-defecation free by October 2019. But, despite the rush in the construction of toilets since the scheme’s launch, India has the highest rate of open defecation in the world. According to a new...

-Down to Earth The schemes Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel announced soon after taking oath will not help those who take loans from money lenders Living up to their poll promises, Kamal Nath and Bhupesh Baghel, the newly elected chief ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, soon after taking oath, announced that their government will waive off farm loans. While the MP government will waive off loans of up to Rs 2...

-The Indian Express Assembly election results show that deceiving farmers comes with a price Frustration on the farms has reached an inflexion point. All of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises could actually go against him. To gauge if the farmers’ anger can become a potent political force in 2019, it is important to understand the “farmer’s identity”. Identities rarely exist in neat silos, and that is true of the farmer as...

-The Indian Express Gender equality is key to food security. But policymakers don’t seem to recognise that Countries globally, including India, have agreed to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched by the UNDP in 2016 as “a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity”. Among the 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030, SDG 5...