-Livemint.com Union Budget 2018 may be able to offer sops for big farmers but it would not be able to deal with the structural challenges facing India’s rural economy The results of the Gujarat elections, in which the opposition Congress outperformed the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in rural constituencies, and the growing number of farmer agitations in the country have focused attention on rural India ahead of this year’s budget. But...
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Problem of plenty: on devising a sound agricultural policy
-The Hindu Agricultural policy should look to address the problem of severe price fluctuations There appears to be no end in sight to the cycle of boom and bust in the prices of agricultural goods. Over the last few weeks, across India the price of potatoes has fallen sharply after a year of bumper production. With the price of a kilogram of potato dropping as low as under a rupee in certain...
More »Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at IIT-Delhi, interviewed by Surabhi (The Hindu Business Line)
-The Hindu Business Line The government must universalise social security pensions for the elderly, single women and persons with disabilities and also operationalise the maternity entitlement scheme at the earliest, says Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at IIT-Delhi. In an interview to BusinessLine, Khera argued against the use of Aadhaar for authentication of beneficiaries and said it has “no role in plugging leakages or in the identification of correct beneficiaries”....
More »Budget 2018: Trade unions urge govt to focus on employment generation
-PTI The leaders claimed thousands of people had lost their jobs because of demonetisation Trade Unions want the government to allocate more funds in the Union Budget for employment generation and claimed that opening up the retail market to foreign players would lead to further loss of jobs. Though Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said suggestions made by TU leaders during a pre-budget consultation meet last month would be considered, the leaders felt...
More »Crop insurance scheme likely to get ? 13,000cr in FY19 budget
-PTI New Delhi: The government is likely to increase the budget allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to ? 13,000 crore for 2018-19 from ?10,701 crore for the current financial year. The Union Budget for 2018-19 will be presented on February 1. Under the upgraded crop insurance scheme PMFBY that was launched early 2016, farmers pay very nominal premium and get full claim for damages. Budget allocation for the PMFBY could...
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