-The Hindu NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya says farmers can't be fully compensated for crop damage. The Union government will increase the number of work days under the Mahatma Gandhi National rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from 100 to 150 in places where the recent unseasonal rain and hailstorms have affected crops. The relief package will include cash compensation. In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought recommendations from NITI Aayog on how insurance...

-The Hindu With the Land Acquisition Bill in the limelight, nobody is talking about the real reforms that farmers need. A major survey finds that almost half the respondents don't want to continue with agriculture. The unseasonal rains over the last few weeks have resulted in enormous loss of crop output across many States of North India. This has shifted attention from the issue of land acquisition to other important problems faced...

-Frontline Interview with Congress leader Jairam Ramesh by TK Rajalakshmi THE Congress has been firm in its opposition to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) Bill, 2015. The Ministry for rural Development under Jairam Ramesh in the previous UPA government drafted the 2013 Land Acquisition Bill, which the NDA government now seeks to amend. Excerpts from an interview with Jairam Ramesh: * Is your party...

-Frontline   The BJP-led NDA government has, in the two Budgets it has presented so far, revealed itself to be very different from the pro-farmer image that its leading election campaigner and now Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, projected. THE Bharatiya Janata Party's manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha election states: "Agriculture is the engine of India's economic growth and the largest employer, and BJP commits highest priority to agriculture growth, increases in...

Is it the case that lack of Central financial assistance is restricting the growth of Gram Nyayalayas? Available Government documents and reports corroborate this doubt.   Shri Kapil Sibal who was the Law and Justice Minister during the UPA rule while answering a question on 18 December, 2013 said that since the commencement of the Gram Nyayalayas Act, 2008, an amount of Rs. 3425.8 lakh was provided to the states as...