-IndiaSpend.org The failing Economics of such farms–agricultural households in the south are most indebted–are exacerbated by additional loans that families take to meet health issues, leaving them with diminished ability to invest in farming. Nearly 70% of India’s 90 million agricultural households spend more than they earn on average each month, pushing them towards debt, which is now the primary reason in more than half of all suicides by farmers nationwide,...
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Mandsaur, the farmers' story -Shiv Visvanathan
-The Hindu Information has not graduated to storytelling to dent the regime’s idea of agricultural policy I remember years ago the Delhi School of Economics had many great scholars visit the campus. They talked passionately and knowledgeably not just about the subject but about knowledge as a vocation. One of the most memorable of these performances was by Teodor Shanin, the economic historian who also edited Peasants and Peasant Societies. He talked...
More »Middle Earth Moguls -Pragya Singh
-Outlook Good monsoon or bad, glut or drought, boom or bust...it’s always fair weather for the range of middlemen who come between the farmer and consumer. An anatomy of the trade. One of the axioms of logic is called the Law of the Excluded Middle. Something has to be either true or false—there’s no middle ground. As we all know, Economics works a bit differently. Facts can be fickle, data pliable, and...
More »For farmers today, grass is 'greener' than rice and pulses -Subodh Varma
-The Times of India Growing grass and selling it in the market may be more profitable than cultivating crops like wheat, rice, pulses or oilseeds. This bizarre conclusion, a reflection of the desperate conditions of Indian farmers, can be reached if one looks at how the value of various crops has changed over the last five years. Between 2011-12 and 2015-16, the total value of cereals and pulses produced in the country went...
More »Is Cattle Slaughter Ban Smart Economics? Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian Speaks Up -Aloke Tikku
-NDTV Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian says farmers would not only lose the income from livestock as meat but also have to incur additional costs to maintain unproductive cattle. Already, he adds, there was research to suggest that returns to livestock farming are in any case "very low or even negative". NEW DELHI: Arvind Subramanian, the government's Chief Economic Adviser, has broken his silence on the issue of cattle slaughter. And...
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