-The Indian Express The failure of populist rural credit schemes stems primarily from poor understanding of farm indebtedness in the first place. From the 1970s, a lot of private investment in tube-well irrigation, farm mechanisation and allied agricultural activities took place with bank credit support. After the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982, institutional credit flows not only accelerated, but also exhibited diversification to fund livestock...

-Hindustan Times/ IndiaSpend A two-year-old project in Rajasthan used an unusual strategy to break this pattern among poor tribal communities. Instead of simply increasing their food supply and access — the standard approach for dealing with malnutrition — it attempted to break the tradition of prioritising men’s needs first. When the women of this southwestern Rajasthan village sat down to eat, it was usually after the rest of the family had finished...

-The Hindu Business Line Notification issuedin May had put curbs on sale of cattlefor slaughter New Delhi: The Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday, staying the Centre’s notification banning sale and purchase of cows and other livestock at animal markets for slaughter, was widely welcomed by farmers, with some seeing it as a ‘victory’. Terming the notification as a “cruel law”, the left-oriented All India Kisan Sabha said the impugned rules effectively choked the...

-The Hindu The long-term benefits of GST are clear — the challenge is to quickly address the short-term obstacles The Goods and Services Tax (GST) is in force from today. The reform, touted as a “game changer” and the “reform of the century”, was deemed worthy of a launch on the midnight of June 30 in the Central Hall of the Parliament. Indeed, one is reminded of the famous speech by Pandit...

-BusinessWorld.in Anemia is a leading cause of maternal deaths in India. In India, half of children under three are either stunted or underweight due to malnutrition, and 79 percent are anemic. Food security for women in rural India increased from 21 per cent in 2015 to 53 per cent in 2017, according to a research by Grameen Foundation and Freedom from Hunger India Trust. The same increased for children from 23 per...