-Financial Express Budget 2020: The direct budgetary aid would be in the form of a grant equivalent to the equity capital of each FPO. Budget 2020: The Government will likely announce a five-year scheme in the upcoming Budget, entailing a total support —both budgetary and indirect —of Rs 7,000-10,000 crore to honour its pledge of creating 10,000 farmer producers’ organisations (FPOs) and help boost their agricultural income. The direct budgetary aid would be...

-The Hindu Public private partnership (PPP) is the only way out, Ministry tells parliamentary panel New Delhi: Even with an annual capital expenditure of about ?1.6 lakh crore for the Railways — which is the highest-ever — it will take decades to complete the sanctioned projects, the Ministry of Railways told a parliamentary panel on Monday, adding that public private partnership (PPP) is the only way out. The Ministry told the Standing Committee...

-Business Standard Natural farming is an alternative to chemical fertiliser-based and high input cost agriculture After decades of intensive agriculture, farms and farmers are in a crisis, food markets remain distorted, and consumers do not have access to nutritious diets. India needs a shift towards sustainable food systems. Among many alternative farming techniques is natural farming, with the potential to improve sustainability and also meliorate Government finances. Natural farming is an alternative to...

-The Hindu In a democracy, people participate politically not only during but between elections We are witnessing unprecedented public protests in India. Thousands continue to assemble on the streets to demand that the Government rethink the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens. Such public protests are the hallmark of a free, democratic society, whose logic demands that the voice of the people be heard by those in power and...

-The Indian Express Centre, Tripura, and Mizoram have signed an agreement with the Bru/Reang community that promises to end their 23-year-old internal displacement crisis. How did the deal come about, and what happens now? Agartala: Twenty-three years after ethnic clashes in Mizoram forced 37,000 people of the Bru (or Reang) community to flee their homes to neighbouring Tripura, an agreement has been signed to allow them to remain permanently in the latter...