-Scroll.in In Telangana, large landholders are benefiting disproportionately from the scheme. In Odisha, families of ministers were on initial beneficiary lists. Early on January 25, Saroj Kumar Sahu and Manu Patel, two farmers from a western Odisha village, boarded a bus with around 10 others from their village to travel across the state to Puri. They were among thousands of farmers from the state’s 147 Assembly constituencies who were chosen to attend...

-The Hindu A basic income scheme will deliver benefits to the poor only if it comes on top of public services The idea of a universal basic income (UBI) is gaining ground globally. It has supporters among the political left and right, and among proponents as well as opponents of the free-market economy. A UBI requires the government to pay every citizen a fixed amount of money on a regular basis and...

-The Hindu Investment and policy reform are needed on priority to help farmers cope with climate change Over the last decade, many of Bundelkhand’s villages have faced significant depopulation. Famous of late for farmer protests, the region, which occupies parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, has been adversely impacted by climate change. It was once blessed with over 800-900 mm rainfall annually, but over the last seven years, it has seen...

-The Hindu * What does the scheme offer? The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, announced in the Budget earlier this month, aims to give ?6,000 a year to 12 crore farmer families who own up to two hectares of cultivable land. * What are the challenges? The number of beneficiaries comes from the number of land holdings of two hectares or less, according to the last agricultural land census. However, the guidelines say...

-The Hindu The first transfer of money under the PM-KISAN scheme is scheduled for Sunday. Priscilla Jebaraj reports from villages in Warangal, Telangana on how farmers have benefited from Rythu Bandhu, the income support scheme seen as the inspiration behind PM-KISAN Early one morning in the second week of February this year, A. Kumaraswamy, 30, set out from his home in Devanoor village in Telangana’s Warangal district and walked towards his cotton...