-PTI The Supreme Court, which lashed out at authorities on Wednesday for failing to curb severe air pollution in the Delhi-NCR region, directed the governments of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to provide support of Rs.100/quintal within seven days to small and marginal farmers who have not burned the stubble. Observing that “agriculture is the backbone of the country’s economy and it’s the bounden duty of the state to look after the...

-Hindustan Times Expanding the scheme will improve incomes, boost demand. Along with expanding the scheme, the ministry must also roll out without delay, as promised, a programme for skill building of these workers so they can move up the economic value chain, and also utilise this labour in a proactive manner for water conservation projects, another key programme of the Centre. A report in the Hindustan Times on Monday said that...

-Financial Express The government’s proposed Unnati scheme, if it works as planned, offers MGNREGA beneficiaries a ticket out of the programme, and, in the long run, out of poverty. It has been clear for a long time that MGNREGA is barely the poverty reduction tool it is often made out to be; at Rs 204 per day per person, the average wage rate across the country is too low to sustain a...

-The Hindu Business Line The RCEP agreement, if implemented, will allow other countries to dump excess seeds in the Indian market. The current 100% FDI policy also threatens seed sovereignty With a confirmed Brexit, the days of liberal globalisation are numbered. Open borders, FTAs and multilateral agreements find no takers in the White House either. Leaders Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have heralded a clear and blunt message of tariffs, conservative economics...

-The Hindu Onion producers, however, have called an agitation, with one farmers’ group threatening a strike if the export ban is not lifted. Onion prices in Delhi have dropped below the Rs.60 a kg mark in the retail market for the first time in two weeks, as the Central government’s measures, imposing stock limits and banning exports, took effect, cooling off the prices in most parts of the country. Onion producers, however, have...