-The Financial Express Increasing farm productivity alone will not help raise farmers’ income and may even be detrimental. the need is to diversify farmers’ sources of income. One of the most important statements made in recent times by the government was the declaration of its intention to double farmers’ income by 2022. The statement of prime minister Narendra Modi in Bareilly on February 28, 2016, must have made the farmers leap with...

-News18.com Multiple government schools in Saharanpur have accepted the practice of children from minority communities cleaning school premises and toilets, while the upper caste students look on. Saharanpur: Semi-urban and rural India have perennial issues that their urban counterparts choose to ignore. Caste discrimination is one such issue that becomes evident when one crosses over to villages bordering Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. Brijesh Devi, one of the rare scheduled caste principals, is...

-Down to Earth India requires policy changes to make millets an effective tool against malnutrition Nutrient-rich millets, which have been a crucial part of human diet since ancient times, have lost their importance due to globally commercialised agronomic practices to produce more foodgrains. Though awareness has been growing among the public in the recent years about the health benefits of a millet-based diet—high fibre, low carbohydrate, protein-rich and gluten-free—gaps persist on several...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Even when the winter sky appears blue, parts of Delhi now have smog-like air quality. If you live in an industrial or peripheral area like Jahangirpuri or Anand Vihar, you are breathing heavily polluted air every day. Last year, Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) added many new air quality monitors, so that now there is one every 7-8km. Data from this dense network shows not only...

-Down to Earth Income inequality makes agrarian crisis challenging; inequality is worse among farmers than the formal economy Economists Lucas Chancel and Thomas Piketty recently concluded after a long study that inequality is at its peak in India. It is embedded in popular conscience: “Top 1 per cent of earners captured 22 per cent of total income in the country.” Their study–covering consumption, government accounts and income tax data from 1922...