Nearly 144 farmers from Araria district in Bihar have been waiting to receive the compensation promised under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for the paddy crop loss they suffered in 2017. By Devinder Sharma, food & agriculture specialist Nearly 144 farmers from Araria district in Bihar have been waiting to receive the compensation promised under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) for … Continue reading Ease of Farming Index
Expecting Cooperation while indulging in Nationalism leads Modi nowhere. By Maharshi Sanket Promoting unwavering nationalism and building walls across borders might work well for domestic politics but risks the basics of staying in power. No voter however polarised would be willing to sacrifice the basics of life. In the bid to increase the representation of one’s identity in elections, voters have increasingly turned towards political … Continue reading Modi can’t have it both ways
When Andhra CM Jaganmohan Reddy announced liquor prohibition, India’s opinion-shapers again called it an intrusion. But few know the havoc liquor is wreaking. By Yogendra Yadav, national president-Swaraj India The Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy-led government’s decision to introduce prohibition in Andhra Pradesh has once again exposed an ostrich-like head-in-the-sand attitude of our opinion shapers. By and large, they maintain a conspiracy of silence on the nation-wide menace … Continue reading Urban India’s opposition to alcohol prohibition shows its ostrich-like & elitist attitude
Agriculture, food, and trade policy expert Devinder Sharma writes: “My understanding is that only agriculture can reboot the economy, sustain millions of livelihoods, and reduce global warming.” At a time when Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz says that neoliberalism is ‘dead and buried’, and the world, as a result, is increasingly grappling with the gigantic problems of rising unemployment, gnawing inequality and climatic change reaching a … Continue reading Make no mistake: Agriculture alone has the potential to reboot the economy
Policies are only as good as the statistics used for arriving at the decisions – and the Indian government has been found wanting in that respect. By Prosenjit Datta, former editor of Business Today and Businessworld magazines For a government that is extremely fond of repeating that Data is the New Oil, lack of proper, accurate and timely statistics is proving to be its Achilles … Continue reading Bad Data and Policy Making
The state of the government’s finances leaves no real option but to go for second-generation reforms By Prosenjit Datta, former editor of Business Today and Businessworld magazines The daily rise in fuel prices makes the government seem both clueless and callous when crude oil is at a record low and consumers are battling job losses and income drops. But the truth is that the Finance … Continue reading Hobson’s Choice
A review The Politics of Poverty – 1 Identification of the poor: The big question By Sachin Kumar Jain THE STORY OF HALKI BAI AND RAJJO BAI Residing in a hut in the village Ghandila of Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh is Halki Bai, an abandoned tribal woman. She works as a labourer and earns a meagre amount of Rs.15/- per day. For this, she … Continue reading The Politics of Poverty in 2004
