-The Times of India RAIPUR: After finding insufficient calorie content and protein in mid-day meals across Chhattisgarh, the state school education SECretary instructed collectors to strictly follow the guidelines of mid-day meal menu. In a review meeting, school education SECretary Gaurav Dwivedi informed collectors that during the sampling test of food nutrition value of mid-day meals, 19 districts and five centralized kitchens out of 27 districts were examined with the samples...

-Business Standard Ex Plan panel member also says demonetisation took a huge toll on cultivators and labourers; favours loan waivers, is skeptical about cash support scheme New Delhi:  Former member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, Abhijit Sen, has said that the ambitious aim of doubling farmers’ incomes is impossible target in the period the government has set for it. Addressing an Economics Summit organised by Sri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi,...

-Financial Express With the 2019 Lok Sabha elections approaching, the government plans to offer a stimulus package in the form of agricultural investment support scheme and group insurance to farmers, which could otherwise subsume the fumes of the farm loan waiver burden. Can the government consider Telangana’s Rythu Bandhu Scheme (RBS) on a scaled down version? RBS has a grant component of Rs 4,000 per acre per farmer for one season (kharif/rabi)....

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Farmers could get annual income support of Rs 15,000 per hectare if the Niti Aayog’s proposal for an upfront subsidy through direct benefit transfer is accepted, said people with knowledge of the matter. The Aayog has suggested that all subsidies for agriculture, including fertiliser, electricity, crop insurance, irrigation and interest subvention be replaced by income transfer. Telangana and Odisha have adopted income support to help alleviate agrarian...

-The Indian Express To address farmers' woes, we need a multi-pronged strategy of income support, government investment, and institutional innovations, and not a one-size-fits-all approach. The two main policy interventions repeatedly discussed in recent months to tackle farmer distress — loan waivers and minimum support prices (MSP) — treat all farmers (large/small, male/female) alike. But farmers are heterogeneous. They differ especially by income, land owned and gender. And farmer dissatisfaction is...