-Down to Earth A survey in Haryana last year found that 45 per cent of 218 organic farmers got yields for wheat better than the state official average yield  The relative merit of organic farming is recognised. Still, it is usually recommended only for areas of low chemical usage and not for intensively farmed areas such as those where the Green Revolution took place in the 1960s like Punjab, Haryana and western...

-The Hindu Caste data will help us understand the contours of inequality and craft reasoned and inclusive policies The debate about whether the decennial Census should collect data on caste from individuals who fall into the administrative categories of ‘General’ and ‘Other Backward Classes’ (OBCs) has been argued by public intellectuals, politicians, and government administrators for decades. As the Census currently only collects data on ‘Scheduled Castes’ (SCs) and ‘Scheduled Tribes’ (STs),...

-Newsclick.in On Saturday, the Ministry of Rural Development denied that the rural jobs scheme was facing a shortage of funds. Its response, however, “leaves many questions unanswered,” according to civil society members. Activists have questioned the Centre’s response to media reports on the shortage of available funds for the rural employment guarantee scheme in the current financial year, by alleging that it is “MISleading” and that it leaves many raised questions “unanswered.” Last...

-TheWire.in In the dark about where their wards are jailed, family members of the three scholarship students, all from poor backgrounds, have pleaded with authorities to show lenience. Chadoora, Jammu and Kashmir: Forty-five-year-old Haneefa’s hands quiver as she begins speaking to journalists. Out of sorts and struggling with the weight of sudden tragedy, she pleads with the government. “He may have committed some MIStake but I appeal to the government to please forgive...

-Newsclick.in As per a report authored by People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), 90& of the total allocated funds to the MGNREGA scheme had been utilised, even as five more months are left for the current financial year to end. On Friday, the "NREGA National Tracker" report, authored by People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), was released for the April-September period of this year in a virtual press conference jointly held with...