-Business Standard The efficacy of farm debt waivers is ambiguous, but it has proved to be a potent potent weapon in the run-up to elections With elections round the corner in agrarian states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his party’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal are trying to woo farmers of the two states with promises of farm...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Food matters in West Bengal -Jean Dreze & Souparna Maji
-The Indian Express PDS has improved in the state, but it’s still not up to the mark. Recent media reports suggest that the public distribution system (PDS) in West Bengal is now “doing enormously well” — as one headline put it. Some also claim that this has contributed to the victory of the Trinamool Congress in the latest assembly elections. Since we were involved in the survey cited in these reports, we...
More »Why restrictions on stockholding and export of pulses must go -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Govt must learn from mistakes in onions and potatoes, agriculture should be spared of bearing the burden of its inflation targeting. Last week, Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a 5% subsidy on onion exports in the form of transferable duty credit scrips that can be used to pay customs, excise or service tax. On top of it, the Maharashtra government extended a Rs 100 per quintal grant to...
More »What’s cooking? -Richa Mishra and Debabrata Das
-The Hindu Business Line The PMUY scheme, under which the poor get subsidised LPG connection, addresses an urgent need. At the same time, it can turn out to be a political masterstroke for the BJP, write Richa Mishra and Debabrata Das The kitchen has always played an important role in Indian politics. Leaders across political parties have cooked their electoral fortunes with the kitchen as the integral ingredient. While some distributed highly...
More »The fruits of India's National Food Security law are finally showing on the ground -Anumeha Yadav
-Scroll.in Like Chhattisgarh earlier, now West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh are covering over 80% rural poor under the ration system, and have reduced grain pilferage. Is the public distribution system in India irreparably dysfunctional, or can it effectively provide nutrition and economic support to the poor? In the last three years since the National Food Security law was passed, a number of state governments have expanded the provision of subsidised foodgrain, and the...
More »