-IndiaSpend.org Of those with zero assets, nearly 80 million people -- the population of Germany -- or 16 million households are Adivasi In a country where "inclusion" is the emerging political mantra, an estimated 215 million Indians - roughly the population of Canada and Pakistan combined - are largely excluded from economic progress. These paupers, of sorts, have "zero assets", which means they do not own a television set, a motorcycle, a mobile...

-The Indian Express The Congress may be quick to attack the ruling NDA government for attempting to dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) since it came to power, and for its Poor implementation this year, but the high-profile constituencies of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi have performed dismally under the scheme, ranking below the national average on most key parameters. MGNREGA, introduced in...

-The Hindu In the present state of the economy, when there is excess capacity in manufacturing, adequate stocks of foodgrain and the inflation rate is trending downwards, there is an opportune moment for a public investment-centred fiscal expansion Over the past eight months, the government has issued some strong statements on the economy and taken some bold steps aimed at transforming it. As it prepares to present its first real budget we...

-PTI New Delhi: The risk of hunger and malnutrition could increase by 20 per cent due to climate change by 2050, endangering the lives of millions of people, a UN agency has warned. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says climate change is making disasters, such as floods and droughts, more frequent and intense, land and water more scarce and difficult to access, and increases in agricultural productivity even harder to...

-The Hindu Business Line   Small and marginal farmers in rainfed regions are trapped in a losing battle with agriculture - and with life The lot of the Poor Indian farmer keeps deteriorating with the passage of time. According to the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) data released on December 19, 2014, during the last decade, the bloated debt of Indian agricultural households increased almost 400 per cent Even the number of heavily...