-The Hindu Amidst the scattered experimentation now, the Centre must offer strategic policy guidance for inter-State coordination Only two years ago, in the wake of a nationwide lockdown, India was left shocked by the plight of migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres, facing hunger, exhaustion and violence, to get to the safety of their home villages. The dire circumstances of the migrants tugged at our collective heartstrings. They became the focus of...

-Scroll.in With anger building up over economic distress, voters might not be as forgiving about their farm losses this time. It took time but when it came, it was a flurry. A good ten days into the Assembly elections and with two phases of the seven-phased polling already over, the Bharatiya Janata Party finally addressed the stray cattle problem in Uttar Pradesh’s fields. The first to break to silence was Prime Minister Narendra...

-Newsclick.in Both BJP and BSP may see dwindling dalit support with SP-RLD-SBSP alliance gaining. The political churning going on in Uttar Pradesh is arguably the most intense among the dalit communities which make up a sizeable 21% of the population of the state. In the last election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had managed to get significant support from various dalit communities winning 74 of 84 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes....

-Newsclick.in By doing so, the corporate sector seems to have cautioned the government against expecting a fast rebound in industrial activity, as there is sizeable idle capacity in the absence of consumption demand. Kolkata: Rural stress and funds for the rural job guarantee scheme were surprise additions in the organised corporate sector’s listed points for the post-Budget interaction with the Union government held on February 5 under the aegis of the Confederation...

-Down to Earth The state is considering rolling out its own insurance programme for farmers Maharashtra may follow several other big states and opt out Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the Narendra Modi government’s much-vaunted crop insurance scheme. India’s second-most populous state may replace the central scheme with its own — a step already adopted by states like West Bengal. Farmer groups have already flagged irregularities in PMFBY at a February 1,...