Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...
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Locust invasions in a number of Indian states have arisen out of climate change induced extreme rainfalls in desert areas
In the midst of COVID-19 lockdown, desert locust swarms have been seen in parts of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh in the second half of May 2020. The recent attacks by desert locust swarms have caused massive crop damage, depletion in the stock of Cattle Fodder and destruction of green vegetation in these states. As on 25th May, 2020, over half of Rajasthan’s 33 districts were...
More »COVID-19 Lockdown: Impact on Agriculture and Rural Economy -Vikas Rawal, Manish Kumar, Ankur Verma and Jesim Pais
-Society for Social and Economic Research Monograph 20/3 Key Messages Lack of planning and preparation by the Central government for tackling the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a massive blow to India’s economy and has caused enormous hardships to working people of the country. Harvesting of Rabi crops • Unplanned and sudden imposition of the lockdown resulted in a massive and unprecedented disruption to agricultural activities such as harvesting, sale of agricultural produce, and purchase...
More »Will 1,646 fodder camps for 11 lakh cattle count in Maharashtra polls? -Harish Damodaran & Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express Out of the 1,646 fodder camps, the maximum were opened in Beed (549, with 3.49 lakh animals), Ahmednagar (507 and 3.34 lakh), Solapur (248 and 1.75 lakh) and Osmanabad (92 and 0.85 lakh) districts. Pune/ Solapur: The southwest monsoon season is over, but Kakaso Gaikwad’s “chara chavani” (fodder camp) still has 540 animals. At its peak — from late-April till almost the end of September — there were...
More »Why has drought hit the Maldharis of Kutch so hard this year? -Ramya Ravi & Abi T Vanak
-The Hindu The Maldharis of Kutch are well adapted to a culture of scarcity. But older coping mechanisms have died away Do you remember how the monsoon began last year, ben?” asked Haji bhai of Hodka village in the heart of the Banni grasslands in the Rann of Kutch. “The thunder, the way the ground swelled from hours of rain and tiny grasses appeared the very next day. Do you remember, we...
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