-The Indian Express With livelihoods affected during the pandemic, the importance of land ownership for access to formal loans as well as government relief programmes became more evident. But the relatively poor availability of clear and updated land titles remains a hurdle. For a significant section of the rural poor, land is both an asset and a source of livelihood. Many informal jobs in the urban centres were lost as the economy...

-The Tribune ‘High indebtedness, inability to repay loan led to extreme step’ Over 7,300 farm labourers in Punjab have died by suicide between 2000 and 2018. As many as 5,765 of these (79 per cent of total suicides by farm labourers) were because of high indebtedness and inability to repay the loan. An average agricultural labour family in the state has a debt of Rs 76,017 while the agricultural labourer suicide victim family...

-The Indian Express The apex court refused to interfere with the Centre's and Reserve Bank of India (RBI's) decision to not extend the loan moratorium beyond August 31 last year, saying it is a policy decision. Refusing to interfere with the government and RBI’s decision to not extend the loan moratorium period beyond Aug 31, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said it cannot do a judicial review of Centre’s financial policy decision...

-The Hindu ‘Not paying minimum wages amounts to forced labour’ VISAKHAPATNAM: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) and Samalochana Association expressed their disappointment over the quantum of increase in the wage rate of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. “The increase in wages by a meagre ₹8, from the existing ₹237 to ₹245 a day, is measly and amounts to mere eyewash. We are concerned about...

Quite often it is argued by mainstream economists that a sizeable chunk of the Union Budget every year is wasted because the Government spends that on food and fertiliser subsidies. The burgeoning size of these two subsidies relative to the entire budget as well as the gross domestic product (GDP) is often used to build the argument that economic as well as environmental sustainability of the country is at stake...