-Hindustan Times Herein lies the crisis of farmer politicians. They have neither aspirations nor the power of coercion working for them. Rural distress dominated discussions around the political-economy in 2017, and will likely continue to do so in 2018, much to the consternation of political incumbents. Those in opposition will be looking forward to harvesting this anger for their own benefit. One question is worth asking though. Where is the farmer-politician in...

-The Economic Times New Delhi: The government has come out with a draft model contract farming act, which industry insiders said will protect farmers from price risks and encourage food processing companies to invest more in infrastructure and farming Technology once states adopt it. The agriculture ministry has put up the model act on its website for various stakeholders, including contract farming and value chain promoting companies, producers' organisations and farmers, to...

-TheWire.in In January-March 2017, regular jobs rose while jobs for contract workers slowed to 26,000 against 1,24,000 in the previous quarter. New Delhi: The government’s demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November last year affected job creation among daily wagers and contract workers, even as regular jobs continued to grow, shows the latest official survey of enterprises, issued by the Labour Bureau. During January-March 2017, job creation stood at 185,000 against 122,000 in October-December...

-The Financial Express The Odisha experience shows that PDS can play a pivotal role in bringing convergence and making India’s two important missions—food and nutrition security—successful in a short time. New Delhi: India’s public distribution system (PDS) is the largest food security programme in the world, which covers nearly 60% of the population and costs Rs 1.45 trillion—close to 1.4% of the national income. PDS has often been criticised for its structure,...

-The Hindu As in Test Cricket, governance skills and fairness are as important in electoral politics as winning. How important is it to win? It is pointless to ask this question in the context of competitive sport such as cricket or in electoral politics where one enters the fray in order to win. But is winning the only point of these practices? Must we win at any cost? Not just about winning If the...