-The Hindu Scope for the middlemen has increased, says IIT professor Reetika Khera In Bandaveedhi village in Paderu in Visakhapatnam agency, 400 residents had gone without the basic food items from the public distribution system (PDS) in April, as the officer concerned had a marriage at home and had no time to switch on the biometric machine that would record the finger prints of the beneficiaries. In Kasimkota, Padma, 70, was sent...

-The Financial Express Punjab farmers would benefit if the state govt subsidised the adoption of appropriate technology and diversification of crops. The newly-elected government in Punjab is considering a loan waiver for farmers to reduce agrarian distress. According to the recent Situation Assessment Survey of Farmers (SASF), the average outstanding loan is nearly three times higher in Punjab compared with the rest of India (Rs 3.31 lakh versus Rs 1.22 lakh). Farmers...

-Outlook Policy think-tank Niti Aayog has suggested outsourcing of public services to private hands in order to reduce dependence on the government administrative machinery. It has also recommended induction of specialists into the governance system through lateral entry, a move which, it says, will bring "competition to the established career bureaucracy". In its draft report on a three-year action agenda made public recently, the Niti Aayog has set a target of full- digitisation...

-TheWire.in The insurance coverage in 2015 was 22.3%, with a government expenditure of Rs 2,955 crore. But by spending 4.5x since, how does the government admit to a coverage of only 23%? Farmer suicides and agrarian distress have likely never been among the national public debates as they are right now. A group of Tamil Nadu farmers, whose protests in New Delhi were dubbed ‘bizarre’ but who were actually desperate for debate and...

-The Indian Express Say subsidy applications made last year for purchasing machines to clear fields are still pending Ludhiana: While the departments of agriculture and pollution control are active enough these days in their campaign to control burning of wheat fields, farmers complain the agriculture department has failed to call any applications from them for seeking subsidy against the agricultural machinery used to pick straws to avoid burning them in the...