-The Pioneer While the Government has done its bit to boost the output of pulses, it has done little to check the nexus between politicians and grain traders For several decades, production of pulses in India has fallen substantially short in terms of consumption. This persistent deficit has led to intermittent bouts of spike in prices as imports (needed to plug it) have often come after lag and have failed to reach...
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The never ending tale of farming crisis -Kiran Tare
-India Today While politicians are busy earning brownie points through waving off farmer loans, the farmers in Maharashtra's Pune and Ahmednagar districts have a different story to tell. I had decided to check whether the farmers in Maharashtra are really in favour of the loan waiver after the opposition members were screaming in the legislature almost every day, during the budget session which began on March 9 and concluded on April 17....
More »Jean Dreze, economist and a leading advocate of welfare policies, interviewed by Vasudha Venugopal (The Economic Times)
-The Economic Times "Demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car," says development economist Jean Drèze . A leading advocate of welfare policies, Drèze who was a member of the National Advisory Council during the UPA regime, tells ET that the sudden move to demonetize high-value currency notes has created a scary situation for people who live on the margin of subsistence, and that...
More »RTI activists slam new CIC website -Ashutosh Shukla
-DNA Say pictures of PM and other leaders on homepage shows officials' 'indebtedness and gratitude' to political bosses The new Central Information Commission (CIC) website has come under the criticism of the Right to Information (RTI) applicants and activists. Calling it a bowing down of sorts, activists said it was a way of showing "indebtedness" to political masters. The homepage of new website, which has been launched just days ahead of the...
More »Farm-loan waiver: A political masterstroke, but economically not prudent -Sanjeeb Mukherjee, Amit Agnihotri & Archis Mohan
-Business Standard The efficacy of farm debt waivers is ambiguous, but it has proved to be a potent potent weapon in the run-up to elections With elections round the corner in agrarian states of Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, his party’s Punjab chief ministerial candidate Amarinder Singh and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal are trying to woo farmers of the two states with promises of farm...
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