-TheWire.in Corruption, poor quality construction materials and the specious implementation of schemes combined with the Centre’s flawed MSP policies have rendered the attempt to transform the region useless. Chitrakoot/ Banda: On a freezing night in early January, as anchors on television and radio jubilated in the new year and extolled the many ‘achievements’ of the incumbent government, Madhav Prasad, a 55-year-old farmer in Bundelkhand, lay anxious on a cot in his hut.  The...

-Newsclick.in Harassment by loan recovery agents hired by these apps has led to at least 21 suicides across India between 2020 and 2021. Meghna Patel took her first loan early in 2020 from an app called FlyCash, whose ads she had been seeing on Facebook. It was a small amount. Just Rs 500. She had to repay Rs 550, two weeks later. The app even had a borrowing limit of Rs 1,000. Recently,...

-Down to Earth Never seen a drought of this magnitude, claim farmers; paddy crop affected Climate change is real. Droughts in the rainy state of Assam are not unheard of anymore. Warmer temperatures have affected the state’s tea gardens for a decade. Now, places recently experiencing unexpected and longer dry spells are catching the eye.  “Never before have I seen drought in this region,” said Dipantor Soh, a 28-year-old farmer from Mirigaon, a...

-Down to Earth The victims are living without shelter and are severely constrained for food and other necessities Hundreds of families displaced by floods that took place in June in northern Bihar, have been forced to take shelter on nearby roads. Large tracts of land are still submerged by flood waters and there is little chance of water receding in the coming days. The India Meteorological Department has forecast more rains this month due...

The recent Supreme Court of India’s judgments (please click here and here) related to ensuring food security of the migrant and unorganised sector workers through the provision of dry ration, running of community kitchens and proper implementation of the 'One Nation One Ration Card' scheme should come as no surprise to us. A recent review of some of the robust studies, which relied on multi-state surveys (or reference surveys), having...