-Outlook In the last two decades, more than 300,000 farmers have ended their lives. What can be done? Indian agriculture is important as it feeds an estimated 1.3 billion population of the country and is also burdened with the responsibility of providing livelihoods to 60 per cent of the people — 780 million people. No foreign country can produce this mammoth quantity of food and supply to India nor any sector...

-The Indian Express Budget 2016 has a greater focus on the rural and social sectors. But the challenge will lie in improving delivery systems. Indian agriculture as well as the rural sector have been in distress in the last two years due to deficit rainfall and the decline in global commodity prices. The rural non-agriculture sector, too, has been under stress due to the lack of demand for manufacturing and services. It...

-Press Release from National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) Government Running away from Responsibility: Pushing Farmers on edges Overlooked the need of majority of population, catering to few Political ‘Jumlas’ continues, ditching farmers once again under the garb of corporate regime; reduced responsibilities of public sector In recent times, announcement of the Union budget seems to be becoming a futile exercise, even with all the publicity and hype associated with it. We...

In the age of social media, various sections of the Indian polity and civil society have reacted publicly in diverse voices, following the presentation of the Union Budget 2016-17 by Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley. An assessment of the Union Budget 2016-17 has been done in the following paragraphs by the Inclusive Media for Change team, based on a number of media reports, Government documents (including the Budget documents), and reports...

-The Hindu Business Line Farmers’ incomes are too inadequate for actuarial premium rates to work for them The farm crisis in India continues unabated, proving all the governmental nostrums ineffective. Unfortunately, the new crop insurance scheme — the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) — recently cleared by the Union Cabinet, to be implemented from the kharif crop cycle beginning this June, too, is unlikely to bring in any significant relief to...