-Press release by NREGA Watch (Jharkhand) dated 2nd February, 2019 Thousands of NREGA workers across Jharkhand spilled to the streets today to express their anger at the continued denial of their entitlements. In over 30 blocks of the state, workers raised their voice against the abysmal wage rate, acute shortage of work, increasing delays in payment of wages, and violation of several other rights. They also demanded work and submitted grievances...

-ThePrint.in Rahul Gandhi’s announcement is certainly good politics, but does it make for good economics? Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s announcement on a minimum income guarantee for the poor, coming days before the Narendra Modi administration unveils its own income support plans in the interim budget, certainly makes for good politics. But does it make for good economics? With the Stress on farmer incomes and rural wages reaching crisis proportions, efforts to loosen the...

-Down to Earth The scheme is just 'lip service' for the Modi government says official even as Piyush Goyal allocates Rs 750 crore to it Usually, the Union government’s Budget is allocated for all types of livestock and animal husbandry development purposes. On February 1, 2019, interim Minister of Finance Piyush Goyal eulogised cattle in his speech and allocated Rs 750 crore for them under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission (RGM).   RGM is...

-The Indian Express Subramanian’s suggestions come days ahead of the Budget to be presented on February 1. Incidentally, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said his party will bring Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person if voted to power. New Delhi: In order to tackle agrarian diStress effectively, the Central government and the states should launch a basic income scheme which guarantees minimum cash transfers to all except the well-off in rural...

-The Hindu Journalist-author Meena Menon on the crisis of cotton and why India needs to go back to desi varieties There’s a pithy summing up of Bt Cotton in Meena Menon’s 2018 article ‘A lost cotton heritage’. “Bt cotton is like Fair and Lovely,” Kamal Kishore Dhiran, an organic cotton farmer, tells the journalist and author. “Does it really change you or make you fair? Similarly Bt cotton doesn’t address the main...