Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...

-The Indian Express Governments can learn much on how to construct a social welfare system for farmers from Odisha's KALIA scheme for DIS. The recent farmer agitation has brought the issue of farmer distress front and centre in the public consciousness. The time seems ripe to find new solutions to the structural challenges facing farmers. One promising step is the shift from non-targeted agriculture subsidies towards direct income support (DIS). A key...

-IndiaSpend.com National datasets differ on women's land rights because they use different criteria in their calculations. Bhubaneswar: There are wide variations in national datasets on women's land ownership in India depending on which agency made the estimate, frustrating efforts to design and implement gender-balanced policies, our analysis shows. National datasets differ on women's land rights (WLR) because they use different criteria in their calculations. Some estimates include only agricultural land, others include homestead...

-ThePrint.in Study by IIT-Kharagpur and MIT Institute of Data, Systems and Society, US, assessed over 5,000 public, political WhatsApp groups, found emojis are a common feature in such posts. New Delhi: It’s not as toxic in language, doesn’t employ derogatory keywords, and might be the new tool of choice for social media users as they look to buck hate speech laws. Introducing “fear speech”, a subtle form of hate speech that often...

MAHANIRBAN CALCUTTA RESEARCH GROUP (Calcutta Research Group) is offering short-term media grants to reporters, journalists, and media practitioners for investigative studies on the following topics: (a) Frontline Covid warriors like lower level health workers at block and Gram Panchayat or local municipality level, ASHA workers, and nurses and doctors; (b) Initiatives of solidarity with migrant workers undertaken by various civil society organisations, local clubs, municipal councillors, small groups of people,...