-The Times of India NEW DELHI: PRIces available to farmers for their harvest could increase by about 15% as a result of the budget announcement to hike the Minimum Support PRIce (MSP), according to an estimate prepared by government’s think tank Niti Aayog. This is likely to raise the income of farmers by 24%, it has projected. While proposing three options in a draft document titled “Ensuring MSP Benefits to Farmers”, the...
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A perfect storm in the cotton field -PRIyanka Pulla
-The Hindu Why India is the only Bt cotton-growing country facing the problem of pink bollworm infestation Earlier this month, the government cut royalties that local seed companies pay to Monsanto, for the second time in two years. This follows previous attempts to defang Monsanto. In February, for instance, the anti-trust regulator, the Competition Commission of India, decided to probe into anti-competitive practices by Monsanto. At the centre of all this is...
More »Why women are falling off the employment map -Namita Bhandare
-Hindustan Times The murder of a woman in Alwar points to India’s most shockingly under-reported story on why nearly 200 lakh women have quit jobs All Usha Devi wanted was to give her kids a good education. The wife of a construction worker knew that her husband’s income was not enough to educate her children, Tanuja, 15, and Dheeraj, 10, and, so, she took a job at a plastic factory. Not everyone was...
More »As bulls have a field day in U.P., farmers scurry to save their crops -Omar Rashid
-The Hindu Slaughter of cattle has stopped after the BJP government took over, and they cannot be transported to other States as cow vigilantes strike fear UNNAO: Farmer Govind Sharma was facing a dharam sankat (moral dilemma). Stray cattle were eating up his valuable crops. But the farmer’s religious beliefs forbade him from using force to drive them out. After much thought, he decided to walk the middle path: catch the bovines...
More »Banks told to be vigilant on Aadhaar -Manojit Saha
-The Hindu Use OTPs only in the presence of customers: UIDAI The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has asked banks to provide Aadhaar-based onetime password (OTP) for opening of bank accounts only in the presence of the customer, in a banking outlet. In a letter addressed to commercial banks, UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey cited instances of misuse of Aadhaar while opening accounts. The direction is a huge blow to the...
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