The Niti Aayog recently released its National Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023, according to which the poverty headcount ratio declined from 24.85 percent in 2015-16 to 14.96 percent in 2019-21. In absolute numbers this translates to 135 million people exiting multidimensional poverty in this time period. In addition, a few days earlier, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) released its own Multidimensional Poverty Index, which in a press note said that,...

-The Hindu The increasing cost of production and the increase in GST on cartons has triggered protests in Himachal Pradesh Apple growers in Himachal Pradesh are out on the streets some three decades after their last big agitation. The protests are not surprising; their anger has been simmering for a while. To understand the present crisis, it is crucial to understand the developments of the last few decades. In the 1970s and 1980s,...

-BOOMLive.in A graphic misleadingly compares India's economic size to its economic growth rate to convey the economy being in bad shape A viral graphic stating that India has fallen from the third largest economy in the world in 2011 to the 164th fastest growing economy out of 193 countries in 2021, is misleading.  This is due to two reasons. First, the graphic makes an apple to oranges comparison as it compares India's position...

-The Tribune Farmers are use homemade alternatives for cultivation;  state government records say 146,438 farmers, including 14,000 apple growers, in the hill state are doing natural farming either partially or fully, over 8,268 hectares Shimla: Amid the widespread shortage of fertilisers in the ongoing planting season in several states largely owing to spiking international prices, farmers in Himachal Pradesh are using homemade alternatives for cultivation that are not only safer for the...

-TheWire.in Apple growers feel that instead of incentivising big corporates, the state government should instead help farmers build cold storages. Chandigarh: The main argument of those rallying behind the Bharatiya Janata Party government’s controversial farm laws; that the free market economy will reward farmers, faces a major dent in the wake of the crashing market price of the apple crop in Himachal Pradesh.  The Rs 5,000 crore apple business in the hilly state,...