-Livemint.com * Market participation is meaningless without information. Should every Indian farmer get a smartphone? * Without internet connectivity and market intelligence, the transaction cost associated with selling in places outside the local market are higher than the value of the produce FATEHPUR: Kamlakant is a smallholder farmer in Daulatiyapur village of Fatehpur district in Uttar Pradesh. He is an enthusiastic vegetable cultivator and every season, he searches for answers to three basic...

-Press release by Working Peoples' Charter dated 21st September, 2020 Amidst the micro and macro-economic crisis of the last 5 years, the union government has aggressively pushed the agenda of labour law reforms -- purportedly to simplify India’s ‘complex’ labour legislations, improve the business environment, and augment growth and employment. These changes, driven primarily by the business fraternity, have been aimed at improving India’s ranking in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’...

-The Telegraph Remember West Bengal, Punjab, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan rejected you, says TMC MP Derek O’Brien The Opposition attacked the government in the Rajya Sabha on Saturday, accusing it of crossing constitutional boundaries, interfering in the affairs of states, failing to control private hospitals during the coronavirus crisis, and being unable to protect migrant labourers and the poor. Participating in a debate on The Epidemic Diseases (Amendment) Bill,...

-The Indian Express The data was shared with Rajya Sabha Friday by Raosaheb Patil Danve, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, who gave a written reply to an unstarred question. The number of wheat farmers who availed the minimum support price (MSP) has doubled in the last five years, while the number of such paddy farmers has increased by 70 per cent during the same period, according to...

-The Hindu Lok Sabha passes taxation Bill; Congress, Trinamool MPs say it is meant only to clear the fund. The Lok Sabha cleared the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Bill, 2020, here on Saturday, despite strong criticism from the Opposition which said the Bill was aimed at giving an “all clear to the PM CARES Fund”. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the Bill will replace an ordinance brought...