-The Tribune Demonetisation didn’t overly impact the sector, but devitalisation is a concern THERE has been a lot of speculation about the extent of damage due to demonetisation on agriculture. Small farmers suffered most because cash in hand means a lot to them. They were unable to pay for inputs like fertilisers, seeds and farm labour and experienced low demand for their perishable produce. The latest data from government’s agricultural ministry however...

-The Hindu Kozhikode: Government schools having low number of students is no news. But what is unusual about Government Lower Primary School, Bairayikkulam, is that of the total 13 students there, 12 are children of MIGrant labourers, whose mother tongue include Bengali and Tamil. Syamala V.K., headmistress, was a picture of poise when asked about the shrinking number of students in her school. “Education should not be looked upon only in terms...

-Scroll.in Public Distribution System dealers have strict instructions not to distribute rations without Aadhaar-linked authentication. Kairi Tidu, aged 10 years or so, was wearing her school uniform at a recent public hearing on the Public Distribution System in Khunti, Jharkhand, because she had nothing better to wear for the occasion. She explained how her family had been deprived of Public Distribution System rice during the last few months. Her parents have MIGrated...

-The Times of India A striking feature of the poll campaign in Uttarakhand is that neither of the two major political parties have any concrete strategy for a crisis that's haunting nearly half the state's population. Since 2000, when the state was created, foodgrain production has gone down by 6% and land under cultivation by 11%. In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, with similar mountainous terrain, foodgrain output increased by 29% while the country...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: The Bengal budget has proposed a grant of Rs 50,000 each to 50,000 MIGrant workers who were forced to return from other states because of demonetisation. By announcing the first such scheme in the country, the Mamata Banerjee government has beaten to the draw the Narendra Modi dispensation. Speculation had swirled around the Modi government that it MIGht share the "gains of demonetisation" with the people through direct deposits...