-Business Standard In November, the government decides to transfer Rs 4.5 a quintal production incentive to bank accounts of sugarcane farmers Two months ago, the Centre after much delibeRATion decided to transfer Rs 4.50 a quintal directly into the bank accounts of sugarcane growers. The government called this a production incentive, but it is seen by many as an attempt to kill several birds with one stone. An incentive directly transferred into the...

-Hindustan Times The recently released census data on India’s youth unemployment has only confirmed what some experts have been cautioning about. Nearly one in every four or 24% of those between 20 and 24 years of age are looking for jobs. Given the size of India’s population, this translates into millions of youth who join the army of job hopefuls every year. This raises some serious questions. How many workers will...

-The Hindu The National DemocRATic Alliance government has just introduced a cess of 0.5 per cent on all taxable services for the Swachh BhaRAT campaign. In February 2016, it will introduce a 2 per cent cess on airfares for all domestic flyers except those flying to remote locations, and international travellers. This cess is meant to fund losses that airlines may incur in connecting to hinterland locations. The Central government loves...

-DNA The report said it will ease the exit of those farmers who find farming unattractive or non-viable and economically strengthen those farmers who want to stay and raise the scale of opeRATional holdings. Opening farmland for 'liberalised leasing' through government-run 'Land Banks' can be a 'win-win reform' in the Indian farm sector, stated the latest report of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog taskforce on agricultural development. The report...

-The Hindu The research lab claims their idea will be more effective that Delhi's proposed odd-even licence-plate policing. A mid-week work-from-home, RATher than licence-plate policing, may be the solution to Delhi’s pollution crisis, suggests the policy arm of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India’s largest chain of publicly-funded research labs. The Delhi government's plan to impose restrictions on private car usage, to check air pollution, may be harder to implement and...