-The Hindu Restricting the price subsidy to coarse grains alone will not only work better from both fiscal and equity points of view but also weaken the incentives for graft The National Food Security Act (NFSA), passed recently by Parliament, offers 5 kg per person a month of cereals at highly subsidised prices to more than the bottom two-thirds of the population. It has been rightly hailed as the largest welfare programme...

-The Hindu Business Line Faced with inadequate returns, a significant chunk of farmers in the country are ready to quit farming if they get alternative job opportunities in urban areas, says a nation-wide study commissioned by Bharat Krishak Samaj and conducted by CSDS. The study - Report on the State of Indian Farmer - reveals some alarming facts, with 47 per cent of those surveyed believing that the overall condition of...

-The Business Standard The rural non-farm sector has emerged as India's largest job creator since 2000 and needs to play a pivotal role in our structural transformation Job creation has to be a pressing priority for any new government. But it is worthwhile trying to understand the nature of our employment challenge. The unemployment rate, as understood in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) world, is not a very useful indicator...

-Live Mint About 30% of 5,350 farmer households surveyed said they would vote for the BJP New Delhi: A third of farming households, a key electoral constituency, are likely to vote for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming general election, says a survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) for Bharat Krishak Samaj, a farmers' association. About 30% of 5,350 farmer households surveyed across 18...

-Down to Earth Demand farm income commission; urge political parties to make it an election issue A number of farmers' organisations got together on Thursday to demand a minimum living income equivalent to that of agricultural scientists for all farm households in the country and asked political parties to make it a part of their poll manifesto. Citing NSSO findings, they said the average monthly income of farm households in the country...