-News18.com In an interview with News18’s Rupashree Nanda, Dreze, who was a member of Sonia Gandhi’s National Advisory Council and an architect of the National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), says that there have been no major initiatives in the social field in the last four years, with the partial exception of Swachh Bharat. Government data reveal that the Indian economy is growing at a robust rate but noted economist Jean Dreze believes...
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Vegetables produced in Kerala safe, says Agriculture Department
-The New Indian Express THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The vegetables produced in the state are now safer, according to the Agriculture Department as 93.6 per cent of samples of vegetables tested in the Kerala Agricultural University labs were devoid of pesticides. Only 38 of the 543 samples tested showed mild presence of toxins, and of these, only four revealed the presence of banned pesticides, Agriculture Minister V S Sunil Kumar said. The samples were taken...
More »NREGA v minimum farm wages: How jobs Act is losing out to funds crunch -Shalini Nair
-The Indian Express After the Finance Ministry rejected the recommendations of two recent government panels, MGNREGA workers in 10 states will get no raises in 2018-19. Minimum farm wages are now higher in many states. The last time the union government brought MGNREGA wages at par with minimum agricultural wages was in 2009. Two years later, in 2011, only four states — Kerala, Goa, Haryana and Mizoram — had minimum agricultural wages...
More »Can goats secure livelihood for small and marginal farmers?
-Down to Earth The Centre's discussions on boosting the goat sector to double farmers’ incomes may be futile if fodder and grazing lands, both diminishing, are not ensured Since goats were domesticated 10,000 years ago, they have been poor people’s most reliable livelihood insurance. In India, goats are the most reliable source of earning a living in ecologically degraded areas. The reason: a goat has everything a poor or a person...
More »MSP for Jowar: At 150% of cost, it will distort market price -Prabhudatta Mishra
-Financial Express If the government implements the assured minimum support price at one and a half times the production cost, as promised, it would jack up consumer prices of jowar and distort the market dynamics of the “poor man’s cereal”. Besides, the measure would also dampen exports, analysts warn. At 150% of the cost (A2+FL), the MSP for jowar for the next season could be at least 37% higher than the...
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