CNBC TV18 The Centre has allowed an early procurement of wheat procurement by states to avert the possibility of any distress sale by farmers. Despite the pre-monsoon rains increasing moisture content in the rabi crop, government sources have maintained that the procurement cycle is on track and there hasn't been any adverse climatic impact on wheat harvest or supply so far. While government sources indicated that wheat procurement in Madhya Pradesh will...

The Wire In a country like India where inequality is so prominent, a development scheme can come a cropper if it lacks inclusivity. The Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) was launched in 1993 to enable parliamentarians to directly contribute towards meeting the development demands of their constituency or state. Despite many deficiencies plaguing the scheme, it stood out mainly on account of the principles of social justice and its...

Newsclick There is an acute shortage of teachers in government-run primary, upper primary and composite schools in Uttar Pradesh, despite the guidelines on the teacher-to-student ratio issued under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act (RTE) of 2009. The new academic session of Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Board schools is about to begin next month (April 1) but about 51,000 posts of assistant teachers are lying vacant in the...

As many as eight farmers are reportedly dying by suicide everyday in Maharashtra. As many as 1,203 farmers took their lives ever since the Eknath Shinde government came to power, the Indian Express reported, quoting NCP leader and Leader of Opposition Ajit Pawar, while he was speaking at Maharashtra’s legislative assembly on March 10. “Farming in Maharashtra is under threat due to unseasonal rain, farm produce is unable to get a...

The government has fixed a wheat procurement target of 34.15 million tonnes for the 2023-24 marketing year starting April, higher than 18.79 million tonnes purchased in the previous year. The target was fixed in the meeting of state food secretaries held alongside state food ministers’ conference here to discuss procurement arrangements.  Out of the total wheat procurement target for the 2022-23 marketing year (April-March), Punjab will aim to procure 2.5 million...