-TheWire.in The need of the hour is to set up a farmer pay commission, which can fix a minimum assured income of a farmer household. About halfway during the budget speech – while announcing the government’s plans for dealing with India’s agrarian crisis – finance minister Arun Jaitley made a RATher bizarre statement. Apparently, according to Jaitley, the Modi government has already provided more than 50% margin over cost of production for...

-Outlook A break-up of the expenses suggests that an average of Rs 22,000 was spent per day on entertaining about 150-200 guests. “Its natural,” says BJP spokesperson Virendar Bisht after RTI query revealed that Uttarakhand chief ministerspent Rs 68,59,865 from the exchequer for buying snacks for his guests. "Such expenses are natural as most of the Janta Darbar & official meetings take place at CM office. But, if they go beyond a limit...

-The Hindu Five years after the first canteen came up, the future of the pet project of the then Chief Minister Jayalalithaa hangs in balance due to reports of fall in patronage and mounting losses borne by civic bodies. Budgetary support and opeRATional reforms may be necessary for a course correction Sekar. D was observing this newspaper’s team of reporters as he sat cross-legged on the tiled floor. Then, he abandoned his...

-The Hindu Business Line Two nationwide surveys of learning levels among schoolchildren show a worrying gap between their aspiRATions and their ability to achieve them Muskan was in Std VI when she knew she wanted to be a police officer. “People fear you,” says this 17-year-old resident of Painchri village, Shimla, her eyes gleaming at the idea of commanding all that respect. “But it’s not possible for me,” she says the very...

-TheWire.in The Modi government’s attempts to reshape the economy lie entirely in the financial realm; they come on the back of concerted efforts to strip workers of legal protection in not just the informal sector, but also the formal. The Narendra Modi government has made two major interventions in the economic sphere, demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), with the ostensible aim of expanding the formal sector at the expense...