-The Indian Express Assembly election results show that deceiving farmers comes with a price Frustration on the farms has reached an inflexion point. All of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promises could actually go against him. To gauge if the farmers’ anger can become a potent political force in 2019, it is important to understand the “farmer’s identity”. Identities rarely exist in neat silos, and that is true of the farmer as...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Why small, marginal farmers get just 40% of total agri credit -Rajalakshmi Nirmal
-The Hindu Business Line Loan waivers have made banks wary of them; beneficiaries are farm infra/services firms Every year the Centre announces an increase in the agri credit limit, but not even half of this reaches small farmers. Small farmers typically take small loans — of less than Rs. 2 lakh. RBI data show that in FY17, the share of loans of Rs. 2 lakh or less was just 40 per cent of...
More »Government makes NPS withdrawal 100% tax exempt
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government has made the National Pension System (NPS) more attractive for investors, with the biggest bonanza going to 18 lakh central government employees. The Centre will contribute 14% of basic salary to their pension corpus, up from 10%. The employee’s contribution will remain at 10%, bringing the total contribution to 24%. Announcing the changes on Monday, finance minister Arun Jaitley said the entire withdrawal at...
More »Quick fix for the farmer -Tirtha Chatterjee & Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express In the absence of patience and vision, the loan waiver remains the most favoured response to farm distress Thousands of farmers from different parts of India marched to Delhi on November 29-30 to register their protest against the Narendra Modi government’s perceived apathy and neglect of farmers’ demands. They were basically demanding three things: One, debate in Parliament to discuss farm distress; two, one-time loan waiver; and three,...
More »She is the answer -Bina Agarwal
-The Indian Express Gender equality is key to food security. But policymakers don’t seem to recognise that Countries globally, including India, have agreed to fulfil the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), launched by the UNDP in 2016 as “a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity”. Among the 17 goals and 169 targets to be achieved by 2030, SDG 5...
More »