-The Telegraph In the last three years since the UPA alliance led by Hemant Soren came to power in December 2019, there has been a sixfold increase in the number of women self-help groups receiving community investment funds Jamshedpur: Sustained drive by the Jharkhand State Livelihood Promotion Society (JSLPS) has led to the fruition of empowerment of the rural economy, a dream of Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren. In the last three years...

-Business Standard 'We wanted to do some work to make ourselves financially strong, but due to lack of guidance, things could not materialise Raipur: Pramina never had a notion that fish, which she loves to cook, could be a good source of income for her. In her mid-thirties, the resident of Chervapara village in Baikunthpur development block of Korea district is eyeing the big catch. Overwhelmed with the initial outcome, she and her group...

-NITI Aayog Working Paper, ISBN: 978-81-953811-7-3 Abstract -  The importance of agriculture in an economy usually declines as it climbs the development ladder. Raising agriculture productivity has been known to be an important precursor. Labour productivity in agriculture can either be increased by higher land productivity or higher land availability per farmer and mechanisation. In India, however, the dramatic increase in land productivity through industrial farming has caused severe environmental damage and...

-Down to Earth The government will use its extensive network of women’s self-help groups to encourage the transition. The Andhra Pradesh government announced financial support to more than 70,000 women from scheduled castes (SC) to promote natural farming among marginal farmers. Natural farming excludes the application of chemicals and promotes traditional agricultural practices. It is regarded as particularly useful for smallholder farmers as it reduces dependency on purchased inputs.   A one-time subsidy of...

The Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India (NSS 77th Round), which was released recently, informs one about farm households' income in the crop year 2018-19 and indebtedness in 2019 (as on the date of survey), among other things. Prior to the recent report, Land and Livestock Holding Surveys (LHS) and Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households used to be...