-Livemint.com Aadhaar’s designers promised a robust privacy Legislation, but the current government’s stance is that Indians have no fundamental right to privacy To govern India is to be constantly overwhelmed. So much needs to be done, and there’s so little to do it with. It’s hardly surprising that the Indian state is rarely ambitious. It seeks to manage, not to transform. One recent government initiative, less than a decade old, is by contrast...

-The Indian Express Integration of spot and derivatives markets for farm produce via e-NAM can be a potential game-changer There isn’t much from the recent Union Budget as far as new ideas for agriculture goes, yet it sends out a couple of signals suggesting the Narendra Modi government’s intent to integrate farmers better with the markets. One such signal is the proposal to come out with a ‘model law’ on contract farming for...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government appears to have again opted for the money bill route, this time to implement new provisions on political parties' funding, to "sidestep" the Rajya Sabha where the ruling NDA is in a minority. A money bill can be introduced, amended and voted on only in the Lok Sabha. They are referred to the Rajya Sabha but it cannot vote on them, nor can it...

-Business Standard The organisations demanded higher budgetary allocation for irrigation Some farmers’ organisations have demanded the Centre announce an income guarantee law for them to ensure a minimum income when crops fail and also when prices crash due to a bumper harvest. To be called the Remunerative and Universal Price Yield Assurance (RUPYA) Act, the Legislation would guarantee a price deficiency payment in the event of a price crash, a market intervention scheme...

-The Hindu The welfare challenge lies in providing assistance to needy households to ensure adequate diets without creating conditions in which they opt for inferior diets that are too heavy on cereals With the Kerala government’s decision to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA) from April, the whole country will be covered by the Legislation. However, if we expect the NFSA to improve India’s malnutrition statistics, we may well be disappointed....