-PTI The letter invited the Japanese Ambassador to Gujarat for understanding the farmers' plight. Ahmedabad Farmers in Gujarat whose lands will be acquired for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet train have written to the Japan government, alleging violation of the guidelines of the Japanese agency which is funding the project. The letter sent by the farmers asked the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which is providing a soft loan for the Rs 1.10 lakh...

-The Hindu Report says it’s consumers who benefit from them more than farmers Despite the general perception that Indian farmers are beneficiaries of major subsidies, a new report says the overall effect of policy interventions between 2014 and 2016 is, in fact, a 6% annual reduction of gross farm revenues. Consumers, on the other hand, pay an average 25% less for commodities as a result of policy interventions. According to researchers at the...

-The Hindu Business Line Direct bank transfers plug leakages in food distribution, ensure better nutritional security New Delhi: Irrespective of teething problems encountered in places where it was launched as pilot, direct cash transfers are far more effective than food subsidy in reducing food insecurity and nutritional imbalances among the Indian population, a new report has shown. Currently, India spends ?1,45,400 crore — about 1.3 per cent of its GDP — to give...

-The Indian Express The bullet train project, planned after discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, is being built with a Rs 88,000-crore soft loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Palghar: As politicians across party lines gathered on stage together in Palghar on Sunday calling for the ambitious Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project to be cancelled, they repeatedly cited the word ‘vikas’, qualifying it with the...

-The Indian Express International treaties hold lessons for the Cauvery dispute. More than 80 per cent of Indian rivers are inter-state rivers. According to the Central Water Commission, there are 125 inter-state water agreements in India. Many of these agreements are more than 100 years old and had been executed without seriously considering socio-economic, political and geographical factors. These treaties have now become permanent sources of problems for many states. Continuous redrawing...