-Frontline The problem in rural India is not one of too much credit to poor households that leads to debt waivers that damage bank balance sheets, but one of inadequate access to credit from formal sources. IF Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan is to be believed, efforts to help Indian farmers by providing them with cheap(er) credit and relieving them of an unsustainable debt burden only harms them in the...
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City must be equitable, not smart -Medha Patkar
-The Indian Express Just a few years ago, the World Bank in its World Development Report claimed that migration from rural India to urban centres is "natural" and the same should not be interrupted or prevented through schemes like the MGNREGA. This was a shocking statement to all those who know why there is huge and ever-growing migration to cities, not only of the labour class but also of farmers and small...
More »No end to battle over land -Anumeha Yadav
-The Hindu When the National Democratic Alliance government amended the land acquisition Act through an ordinance last week, it promised to set farmers and industry on an amiable path to mutual benefits and development. Land acquisition under the 1894 Act had been marked by violent protests, even police firings at farmers. The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (LARR) Act, 2013, is the first law on...
More »Scheming against the poor -TK Rajalakshmi
-Frontline The Left and other national parties protest against the NDA government's attempts to dilute the MGNREGS by limiting its budget and reducing its reach. IN a rare show of solidarity, representatives of several political parties took issue with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on its controversial proposal to restructure the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The opposition, which was initially confined to the...
More »Rs 83,000 crore revenue lost on SEZs in 6 years -Pradeep Thakur
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: More than 50% of land allotted to special economic zones (SEZs) across the country remains idle, and its very purpose was defeated with no significant increase in employment even as the government's revenue foregone was to the tune of Rs 83,000 crore between 2007 and 2013, the Comptroller and Auditor general (CAG) has found. Exposing systemic weaknesses in tax administration, a performance audit on SEZs by...
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