Often exports made by a country to the rest of the world are seen in a positive light by us. It is because exports not only earn precious foreign currencies (that can be used for importing goods and services or simply be used for building forex reserves), it also helps in generating effective demand for goods and services produced in that country and hence, contributes to economic or GDP growth....

-The Hindu Government has begun assessment of Damage and will pay compensation: Minister Floods caused by incessant rains in parts of Gujarat have nearly ruined crops in more than eight lakh hectares leaving farmers, who expected bumper yield with the onset of monsoon, devastated. Farmers particularly in the Saurashtra region have been hugely hit as floods have destroyed their groundnut and cotton crops, the mainstay of agriculture. Pulses and sesame have also been...

-The Hindu 17 dead in Odisha; 454 villages cut off in Madhya Pradesh BHUBANESWAR: Over 14 lakh people were affected due to floods in five river systems of Odisha, said the State government here on Sunday. Seventeen people have lost their lives due to wall collapse and by slipping into swollen rivers. “Heavy rain triggered by back-to-back low pressure area over Bay of Bengal had caused flooding in 20 districts. The situation is...

-The Hindu Forest communities are being seen as the primary drivers of denudation during lockdown, while we continue to ignore the impacts of fast-tracked environmental clearances for Dams and mines A photograph of a young man, presumably tribal, or a returning migrant, or both, with the carcasses of two hares slung over his shoulder, was recently emblazoned on the cover of a report by a reputed wildlife NGO. The report — based...

-Down to Earth The programme can provide a safety net for the poor, not just in COVID-19 times, but for times to come In these darkest days of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) — when jobs and economies have collapsed — 56 million households got work in the past three months and these jobs provided relief. This was under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which perhaps is the...