-Livemint.com Rural workers’ real wage rate growth was very high in 2014, but has fallen dramatically since then Rural wage growth for men for both agricultural and non-agricultural occupations (simple average) was 3.53% in March from a year ago. But consumer Price Inflation for rural India was 4.44% in March. That means the real rural wage growth, or wage growth after taking inflation into account, was negative during the month. In other...

-Livemint.com The best way to double the real incomes of Indian farmers would be to halve their numbers through job creation in other parts of the economy The Narendra Modi government last week announced sharp increases in minimum support prices (MSPs) for a variety of farm products. The move itself is not unexpected. The first sign that the Modi government would shift away from its earlier strategy of minimal hikes to douse...

-The Hindu The Union government looks to fulfil its poll promise of giving farmers 50 per cent more rate than their cost of production. In keeping with the promise made in this year’s Budget speech, the Union Cabinet has approved a hike in minimum support prices (MSPs) for kharif crops so that they are 50% higher than the cost of production, not including land costs. This includes a ?200 per quintal increase in...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government on Wednesday raised the minimum support price for the common variety of paddy by what it described as a "historic" margin, seeking to address rural disquiet that the BJP has identified as one of its weaknesses in the run-up to key elections. However, a powerful lobby of farmers has termed it a "jumla" (an idiomatic expression that loosely translates as a hollow promise or...

-Livemint.com The concerns about the downsides of these schemes are overblown, and they could go some way in alleviating rural woes Since the Union Budget 2018-19, there has been a great deal of discussion in the public domain regarding the health of the rural sector. We believe that the rural sector needs some policy intervention, be it price support or income support. As a case in point, the agri gross domestic product...