-The Indian Express Farmers will need to be supported in perpetuity; they can never become atmanirbhar. The question is how best to support farmers such that India may become nutrition self-reliant Imagine, while constructing a multi-storey building the contractors discover the building foundation has begun to sink. It is scary, but wait. Now, imagine that even though the contractors know this, they simply decide to continue work rather than alter the plans....

-The Hindu As output and demand slow, India must retain twin focus on the pandemic and economy Output in the eight core industries suffered an overall contraction for a third straight month in May, shrinking 23.4%, as the pandemic-induced lockdown kept large parts of the economy shuttered, the Commerce Ministry’s provisional figures show. Of the eight, all but one posted declines in production compared with a year earlier, with six sectors witnessing...

-Business Standard/ NIPFP In the wake of the growing military tension on the India-China border, there have been calls for boycott of Chinese products. These have little impact on strategic reality. Equally, the plea that India cannot afford to do without Chinese imports is not a truism.   If bilateral tensions escalate, then there may be a scenario in which India and China cease to trade. How would the Indian economy be hit...

-Down to Earth Keonjhar district will introduce ragi for pre-school meals through DMF funds from July Locally cultivated ragi will be part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme for the first time in Odisha, with Keonjhar district introducing it as part of the pre-school meal from July 2020 onwards. Additionally, 14 districts — a part of the state’s Millet Mission — will provide ragi through the public distribution system (PDS)...

-The Indian Express That’s the actual liquidity pumped into rural areas by government post lockdown – through grain procurement, PM-Kisan and MGNREGA wages. There are many parallels one can draw between the novel coronavirus-induced lockdown (gharbandi) and demonetisation (notebandi), in terms of their impact on India’s farm economy. Both resulted in the same thing – demand destruction – albeit through different routes. Notebandi caused a haemorrhaging of liquidity from the predominantly cash-based farm...