-Hindustan Times India’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 4.5% in the second quarter of the current financial year, the lowest since March 2013. Union Budget 2020-21 is expected to focus on the transformation of rural India with a nearly 15% jump in fund allocation to boost the village economy and raise incomes, particularly of small and marginal farmers, three people aware of the development said on Tuesday. “Transformation of the rural economy is...

-Down to Earth The upcoming budget will see many schemes being brought under the rural employment programme; a direct cash transfer may be declared to top this up Union Budget 2020-21 will be a landmark for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Not just because India is going through an economic slowdown, but also for the fact that it will herald a countdown for many of his ambitious promises that come with prime ministerial...

-Down to Earth Millions of Indian households transfer poverty to the next generation, making poverty eradication nearly impossible Something that has haunted me through my 22 years of reporting the rural India is how some people in certain regions always remain poor. I have visited them multiple times for various assignments, but have always found them talking about poverty. Like me, they too always wonder: “Why do we remain poor?” I have mostly reported...

-The Indian Express A reworking of curriculum and activities is urgently needed for the age band from four to eight. ASER 2019 report underlines this While the importance of good early childhood education has been known for a long time, the draft New Education Policy (released in June 2019) links the “severe learning crisis” to what goes on with young children in India. The voluminous policy document points out that close...

-The Hindu The AAP will hope that the Assembly polls are a referendum on its government’s work Delhi, the Union Territory (UT) that hosts India’s capital city, might lag behind several States in total population and in area, but it enjoys outsize significance in terms of media and political attention. With 1.47 crore electors spread across the largely metropolitan national capital region and its pockets of rural voters in some suburbs, Delhi...