-Livemint.com Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana will kick in from April, before planting for the next rain-fed kharif crop begins The government wants to cover 50% of all farmers under a new and revamped crop insurance policy that seeks to shield farmers from weather-related risks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday. The new scheme, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), was approved by the cabinet on 13 January to address rural...

-Frontline The new crop insurance scheme introduced by the NDA government in an election year does not provide for a comprehensive coverage of all crops, against all forms of damage and at all stages of the crop cycle. IN AN election year, it is but natural that incumbent governments will introduce welfare policies and schemes. But the problem is that distribution of such largesse in a neoliberal dispensation can only be...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: A clutch of pesticides that could be carcinogenic and banned in many countries will continue their run in India, though a government panel has recently decided to ban 18 insect killers hazardous to human health and prohibited abroad. This is the first time a decision to ban such a big number of pesticides was taken. There are 261 pesticides registered in India but only 28 had been banned...

-The Hindu Economic agency is one of the most enabling elements to release women from oppression, violence and powerlessness. A Supreme Court Bench has once again proved that our judiciary can be the torchbearer of progressive attitudes towards women. In 2013, the Justice J.S. Verma Committee, while responding to the horrific December 16, 2012 gang rape in Delhi, prepared a report that drew from the observations of members of the women’s movement among...

-The Hindu Muslims, who form 27.01 per cent of West Bengal’s population, “constitute a very large proportion of the poor” in the State, Professor Amartya Sen said. He was releasing a voluminous report on the condition of Muslims in West Bengal titled ‘Living Reality of Muslims in West Bengal.’ “The fact that Muslims in West Bengal are disproportionately poorer and more deprived in terms of living conditions is an empirical recognition that gives...