-ThePrint.in French economist defends Congress' minimum income guarantee scheme, says India's poor have been 'badly treated by the country's elite'. New Delhi: French economist Thomas Piketty has defended the Congress party’s poll promise of minimum income guarantee (MIG), saying that India’s poor have been “badly treated by the country’s elite”. “It is high time to move from the politics of caste conflict to the politics of income and wealth distribution,” Piketty said in...

-VillageSquare.in It will not be easy to optimally deploy the basic income support announced by the government for small and marginal farmers. The scheme has large exclusions in the landless and the women as well India has taken the first step in providing basic income support to small and marginal farmers owning up to 2 hectares of land. This is to be a direct benefit transfer (DBT) of an annual Rs 6,000...

-The Telegraph The main organisers of the march included the student and youth wings of the CPIML-Liberation, Samajwadi Party and Swaraj India They came for jobs and to defend the quota. Thousands of students hit the streets of the national capital on Thursday, marching from Red Fort to Sansad Marg, to demand better employment and education opportunities in a show of strength that brought together youths from across the country. The 6km march of...

-The Hindu Business Line In the wake of the government announcing direct income support of ?6,000 per year for small and marginal farmers in the interim Budget on February 1, the Reserve Bank of India, on Thursday, raised the limit for collateral-free agriculture loans to Rs.1.6 lakh from Rs.1 lakh. The central bank said the increased limit will enhance coverage of small and marginal farmers in the formal credit system. The circular...

-The Indian Express Possibly the most problematic aspect of evaluating the budget is the opaqueness of the underlying data. The interest in this year’s Union budget had been high for obvious reasons. It being an election year, there were expectations of a major spending package focused on struggling sectors such as agriculture. The budget didn’t disappoint as the finance minister announced an income support programme for farmers, raised the tax-free income...