KEY TRENDS   • Oxfam India's 2023 India Supplement report on poverty and inequality in India reveals that the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. Following the pandemic in 2019, the bottom 50 per cent of the population have continued to see their wealth chipped away. By 2020, their income share was estimated to have fallen to only 13 per cent of the national income and have less than 3...

The Telegraph Over 60 scientists have signed a statement accusing the Indian Council of Agriculture Research of trying to ‘silence the voices’ of public sector scientists Sections of scientists on Monday asked India’s apex agricultural research agency to revoke what they described as a “gag order” intended to prevent former government researchers from articulating concerns about genetically modified mustard. Over 60 scientists have signed a statement accusing the Indian Council of Agriculture...

-Livemint.com Multiple surveys indicate that we not only missed that goal but our rural economy is in deep distress On 28 February 2016, at a farmer rally in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the government’s intention of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, a year marking 75 years of India’s independence. That it was not just political rhetoric but a real project was evident from the follow-up. An...

-The India Forum The annual public debate over the poorly constructed Global Hunger Index is all hot air; in the process the critical issue of child undernutrition in India, where authentic data is available showing very slow improvement, gets ignored. In the seminal book An Uncertain Glory: India and its Contradictions, Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen lamented that "social failures that are of enormous importance for development" received scant attention in public...

-The Hindu At the Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Greece urges India to ensure full implementation of freedom of religion and Germany expresses concern about the status of human rights India appreciates the role of human rights defenders, journalists and activists in the Democratic system but the activities of these groups and individuals should be in conformity with the law of the land, said Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta at the Human Rights...