`Family farming is not a romantic idea. It is business'
The food price rise of 2007-08 highlighted that investments in the agriculture sector have reduced in the past three decades. One of the most …
Profit from the poor
Fifty-four suicides in Andhra Pradesh have blown the lid off the social posturing by microfinance companies. Before the news of the deaths sank …
SUBSIDISED KILLING
They may survive the drought. But they cannot survive government policies. When people have to abandon their livestock, they are reduced to misery,…
SEZ, how special?
Despite having burned its fingers with export processing zones, which mainly involved a number of substantial fiscal benefits, the government has …
Unravelling the food mess
Reaching food to people who need it the most has remained one of the most stubborn problems in India. The public distribution system (PDS) is in …
No end to discrimination against Punjab’s Dalit women labourers, says study
A recent study examined 927 Dalit women labour households across four districts. A lot of them reeled under debt, faced sexual harassment
Forget 2022, more than 110 million Indians would remain poor forever
The next generation of the current poor Indians has high probability of remaining poor as well. Lack of access to resources like forests and …
Rural youth population rising in agriculturally rich areas, but …
A new, global report explains why unemployment rate among rural men and women has tripled since 2011-12
COVID-19 aftershocks: This is an economic collapse triggered by a health crisis
Mehrotra is visiting professor, Centre for Development, University of Bath, UK, and former economics professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
Mass poverty is back in India
After 45 years, the world’s fastest poverty-reducing country adds the maximum poor in a year
Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Dalit votes matter, but what about their issues
Punjab’s political parties have hardly focussed on addressing issues of the state’s landless rural Dalits and the cateism the …
Deforestation rate slowed down: FAO
The pace of loss of forests has slowed in recent years even though the world’s forest area decreased from 31% to 30% between 1990 and 2015
Most poor people in Asia-Pacific region live in rural areas
Countries in the region have not been able to address rural poverty despite economic growth, says an IFAD report
COVID-19: Why are the migrant workers so desperate to move out?
Partition migration was triggered by a newly drawn line between two nations whereas the present exodus highlights another kind of divide, within …
Bhukh chala gaya, dukh nahi: The new hunger problem stalking India’s poorest region
Government schemes have brought food to people in Koraput, Kalahandi and Bastar; but they still do not have sustainable livelihoods
Report places rural transformation at the heart of economic development
IFAD report bats for emphasis on agriculture and employment to reduce rural poverty
Why inequality is India’s worst enemy
India’s per capita gross domestic product increased five times between 2000 and 2019. The income, however, is concentrated only in a few …
Farmers demand law for guaranteed income
Participants voice concern on drought, farmers' suicide and water conservation, among other issues
Government quells homestead land rights protest with yet another assurance
Activists have been demanding that the land reforms Bill be brought in Parliament since 2012
International Day of Rural Women: It’s time we recognise their lives and livelihood
Rural women are active agents of socio-economic change. As we celebrate the day on October 15, there is a need to pull them out of the …
'Indian elections will always be unpredictable'
For 25 years, economist Ruchir Sharma has travelled the length and breadth of India analysing voting paterns, sociological landscapes and nuances …
MGNREGS: ‘Monument of failure’ or ‘saviour’?
On the 10th anniversary of the rural job guarantee scheme, Down To Earth evaluates its successes and drawbacks
Why this abandoned village is a threat to Uttarakhand
People are abandoning their villages despite high economic growth, leaving behind few, who find it difficult to continue farming without …
India’s poverty: There is no end to Surjit Bhalla’s imagination
The IMF executive director has just declared that India was nearly free of extreme poverty in 2020 and inequality was lowest in 40 years due to …
Migration should be out of choice, not a desperate last resort: FAO head
Large-scale cross-border movements in recent years have sparked tensions in some countries, placing migration high on the diplomatic agenda