-The Tribune Pocket more than Rs 8,000 cr in two years; Rs 11 cr a day on average Chandigarh: Rs 11 crore in a day! That was the average of profit of the private insurance companies from Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana in the past two financial years. There were 18 companies that got contracts under the crop insurance scheme. Out of them just five are in public and 13 in the private...

-The Indian Express The latest data compiled by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on recruitment over the last three years through the main agencies show a declining trend in selection and recruitment, from 1,13,524 cumulatively in FY2015 to 1,00,933 in FY2017. New Delhi: In terms of employment prospects, beneficiaries of the 10 per cent reservation for economically weaker sections in the general category, which was passed in Parliament last week,...

-Down to Earth The country does not know how much milk is needed despite its growth having exceeded targets The Union government has asked the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to conduct a study to assess the true scale of demand for milk in India. “We have asked NDDB to estimate the present demand for milk and milk products and its forecast in India, as per the National Dairy Plan Phase I,” Union...

-News18.com Acclaimed journalist and Founder-Editor of the People’s Archive of Rural India, P Sainath attributes the existential crisis confronting India’s agrarian society to macro-economic policies set in motion 25 years ago. Talking to Anuradha SenGupta, Sainath makes a case for state intervention in agriculture and says the Modi government, with its shifting positions and policies like demonetisation has only aggravated the assault on agrarian livelihoods. Dismissing the buzz about imminent new initiatives...

-The Hindu Instead of addressing inequality, the 10% quota for economically weaker sections creates huge anxieties If the number of demands for implementing reforms is any guide, India’s reservation system is clearly in disarray. However, it is unlikely that the recently passed Constitution (124th Amendment) Bill, 2019, creating a 10% quota for the economically weaker sections (EWS), will serve as anything more than a band-aid. Given the deep inequalities prevalent in access to...