-TheWire.in Millions of school children in India, especially from poor families, dropped out of school over the past two years because of the COVID health emergency. Raghav Paswan, a vegetable vendor from East Delhi has two school-age children, 12-year-old Vinita and nine-year-old Gita, who have not gone to school for the past two years because of the pandemic. Paswan’s meagre income has dropped further during the pandemic, to the point where he could...

-Down to Earth Eligibility threshold for FPOs should be reduced or support provided to meet the criteria, experts feel Farmer producer organisations (FPO) figure prominently in government policies and the ambitious plan to double farmers’ income by 2022. But funds remain elusive for these bodies, according to a recent analysis.  Just 1-5 per cent of FPOs have received funding under central government schemes introduced to promote them in the last seven years, the...

-The Hindu Business Line There is no guarantee farmers’ income will rise as the methodology for estimating cost of production is outdated, defective Although the farmers’ agitation that lasted over one year was finally called-off, their demand for a law guaranteeing minimum support prices (MSP) for crops is continuing. Can the MSP be legalised in a country that produces about 1,000 million tonnes of agri-commodities? If so, who will benefit from it?...

-TheWire.in Sunita now fears losing her job as the parents of the school children allege that her appointment was in violation of norms, which the authorities deny. Dehradun: On November 25, Sunita, a Dalit woman, secured a job as Bhojan Mata, a cook, at a local government school in Sukhidhang village of the Champawat district, Uttarakhand. Even though the monthly salary paid to her is a meagre Rs 3,000 a month, the...

-The Hindu Business Line It’s in India’s own interest to phase out free supply electricity and water and focus on productivity boosting infrastructure The macroeconomic impact of MSP has been neglected in the current debate. It worked, over the years, as a push keeping Indian inflation high. The short-term rise in farmer incomes it delivered was soon eroded, leading to another rise and so on. In recent years it has led India to...