-Economic and Political Weekly The Indian weaver is dismissed in high places as an embarrassing anachronism, despite demand for his or her skills and products. In the new millennium, globalisation and a mindless acquiescence to imported notions of a good life threaten to take over, even as the West looks East for better concepts of sustainable living. Analysing today's crisis in the handloom sector, plagued by low-cost imitations from power looms,...
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Mr. Modi’s war on welfare -G Sampath
-The Hindu The Modi government is determined to dismantle the two-pronged welfare paradigm. It is now an established fact that one area where the Narendra Modi administration has acted with a sense of purpose, urgency and resolve is in slashing social expenditure. Be it education, health, agriculture, livelihood security, food security, panchayati raj institutions, drinking water or the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes sub-plan, central government funds earmarked for social protection have been cut. The...
More »Safe food, from the farm to the plate -Poonam Khetrapal Singh
-The Indian Express Food safety is critical for public health as food-borne diseases affect people's well-being,strain health-care systems, and adversely impact national economies, tourism and trade How often do we ask ourselves if the food we are eating is safe? Do we know if it is free of bacteria, viruses, parasites, chemicals, other contaminates, additives and adulterants which can cause over 200 diseases ranging from diarrhoea to cancer? Every year, diarrhoea caused...
More »Bursting the myths on Indian agriculture -Rakesh Rao
-Business Standard Though Indian agriculture has grown to be second largest globally, there are many myths and misconceptions. So, let's find the truth. Though the government over the past few years has been focusing on enhancing manufacturing sector's share to India's GDP, contribution of agriculture to the GDP continues to be higher than that of the manufacturing. India has in abundant four critical fundamental resources - light, land, water & labour. Contrary...
More »Not measure for measure -Uday Balakrishnan
-The Hindu With a plethora of government departments and international organisations putting out so much statistical data in the public space, often contradicting one another, it is the government's duty to clear the air with up-to-date and coherent statistical data linking social and economic indicators Purchasing Power Parity or PPP has validated a long held surmise that the poorer countries are not as badly off as they are made out to be...
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