-The Hindu Communities are ‘far behind’ in terms of human development, says survey of 1,000 households by Professor Amartya Sen’s institute Two months after the West Bengal government denied any food scarcity as a possible cause of death of seven persons from a tribal community, a survey report has identified “food scarcity in varying degrees” in about 31% of tribal households in West Bengal. The study titled ‘An Inquiry into the world of...

-The Indian Express An income transfer policy combined with direct cash transfer is the best way to help the farmer Losses in the recent elections to the assemblies of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have given the BJP a jolt. The party had misjudged the gravity of the farm distress problem till then: The Union agriculture minister described farmer agitations as “political drama”. However, the party not only acknowledges the crisis...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The health ministry was actively mulling compulsory licensing, apart from PRIce capping, of “orphan drugs” (for rare diseases), when the department of pharmaceuticals abruptly issued an order exempting such medicines from PRIce control, derailing plans to make these drugs affordable. The health ministry discussed PRIce capping and invoking compulsory licence for these “exorbitantly” PRIced “orphan drugs” at a meeting on January 3, the day when DoP...

-The Hindu Business Line Opening farm sector for global trade will give farmers a bigger market: S Narayan Farm sector distress is expected to worsen, cautioned S Narayan, who was the Economic Adviser to former PRIme Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. No remunerative PRIces Speaking on ‘Economy in Election Year’, organised by the Chennai chapter of the Observers Research Foundation, Narayan said the underlying problem is one of abundance of production and farmers not getting...

-Financial Express The government has asked the Ashok Dalwai committee to oversee the implementation of its recommendations so that the promise of doubling farmers’ income is achieved by 2022. The committee on doubling farmers’ income (DFI), headed by Ashok Dalwai, the CEO of Rainfed Area Authority, will act as an ‘empowered body’ to coordinate with different ministries as well as among various departments within the agriculture ministry, officials said. The empowered group will...