In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-Newsclick.in The roots of the present crisis lie in wrong policies adopted over the last two decades that have undermined domestic production of fertilisers led by the public sector and increased dependence on imports and production by the private sector. Indian farmers have been facing a major crisis because of shortages in availability and an unprecedented rise in prices of fertilisers. Fertilisers are a critical input for agriculture, and a shortage in...

-Press release by Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy (IATP)* dated March 4, 2022 A new evaluation has exposed the serious failures of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) — in its attempt to address hunger and farmer poverty. Funded by Gates, USAID, and western governments, for 15 years AGRA has promoted high-input agriculture, synthetic fertilizers, commercial seeds and subsidies to "catalyze a farming revolution in Africa." This evaluation...

-The Hindu Business Line Goyal meets industry associations to assess demand-supply situation, alternative plans Representatives of India’s edible oil industry met Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday to discuss ways to check the galloping prices of the cooking medium as disruption of supplies of sunflower oil due to the on-going Russia-Ukraine conflict threatens to make the situation worse. The meeting, called a day after the Union Food Secretary’s discussion with industry...

-The Hindu Business Line APEDA in touch with countries, exporters to ship out requirements, says its chairman With wheat prices soaring to a record high of $13.50 a bushel (nearly $500 a tonne) on the Chicago Board of Trade on Friday, India is reaching out to exporters and countries that are looking for wheat supplies. In addition, it is also looking to supply other agricultural commodities such as corn (maize) and rice, which...