Why reports of agriculture’s demise are greatly exaggerated
6 years, 4 months ago

Why reports of agriculture’s demise are greatly exaggerated

Live Mint  

Bengaluru/New Delhi: Farmers may be looking for alternative avenues of income, but it is too soon to write off the significance of agriculture in rural India, data from the recently released Nabard All India Rural Financial Inclusion Survey shows. An initial reading of the survey findings seems to suggest that earnings from farm-related activities—cultivation and livestock rearing—contributed just 43% to average monthly income of agricultural households in 2015-16, suggesting the growing importance of non-farm sectors in rural India. The fact that farm incomes comprised 57% of overall incomes of agricultural households despite a drought only reinforces the importance of the farm economy in rural India. Agricultural households accounted for 58% of all rural households, data from the 2012-13 NSSO survey shows. The NAFIS data also shows that 13% of agricultural households had only a single share of income, while 50% of them had two sources of income.

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History of this topic

Why the increase in farm worker population is a worry
1 month ago

Why the increase in farm worker population is a worry

Live Mint  

Between 2017-18 and 2023-24, the number of Indians working in agriculture rose by 68 million. In India, while farms’ share in gross domestic product declined steadily over decades, the pace of decline in the share of agricultural workers in the workforce was slower. Women in the fields While the estimated number of men employed in agriculture rose by just 1.4 …

Farming yields Rs 4,500 a month, less than what you'd splurge on a dinner date
1 month ago

Farming yields Rs 4,500 a month, less than what you'd splurge on a dinner date

India Today  

While critics target tax-free income and 'flashy-big-vehicles' of farmers, suggesting they are affluent and a pampered lot, the reality for the majority of farmers in India is starkly different. While the average monthly income of a farming household, the Nabard survey revealed, is just Rs 13,661, it is left with a meagre Rs 1,951 in savings, equivalent to Rs 65 …

Economic potential eroding rapidly while PM Modi generates hype: Congress
1 month, 2 weeks ago

Economic potential eroding rapidly while PM Modi generates hype: Congress

New Indian Express  

The Congress leader pointed out that the report uses Periodic Labour Force Survey data to show that overall real wage growth at the national level has been flat at 0.01% over the last five years. Citing Labour Bureau's Wage Rate Index, he said real wages for the labourers stagnated between 2014-2023 and in fact declined between 2019-2024. Ramesh further cited …

'Double engine' of private investment, mass consumption derailed under Modi government: Congress
2 months ago

'Double engine' of private investment, mass consumption derailed under Modi government: Congress

New Indian Express  

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh urged the government to accept what the Congress has been proposing - raising MGNREGA wages to a minimum of Rs.400 per day, guaranteeing MSP and a loan waiver for farmers, and a monthly income support scheme for women - to kickstart income growth in rural India. Last week, several CEOs from India Inc …

Jobs Creation, Agri Push, Skill Development, MSME Support: Govt Unveils Key Policy Focus Areas
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Jobs Creation, Agri Push, Skill Development, MSME Support: Govt Unveils Key Policy Focus Areas

News 18  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24 in Parliament, setting the stage for the Union Budget 2024-25. Skill Gap Challenge The Economic Survey 2023-24 said 65 per cent of India’s fast-growing population is under 35, and many lack the skills needed by a modern economy. In India, the government has been paying focused attention to enabling …

Economic Survey 2024 key highlights: FY25 growth forecast, inflation outlook and more
5 months, 3 weeks ago

Economic Survey 2024 key highlights: FY25 growth forecast, inflation outlook and more

India Today  

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman on Monday tabled the Economic Survey 2023-24, which highlighted that the Indian economy is “on a strong wicket and stable footing”. Here are some of the key takeaways from the Economic Survey 2023-24: Indian economy on 'strong wicket' The Economic Survey highlighted that the economy is growing strongly, demonstrating resilience despite challenges. Inflation under control, private …

LS polls: Rural hardship hurts BJP
7 months, 1 week ago

LS polls: Rural hardship hurts BJP

Hindustan Times  

New Delhi: Faced with the police’s tear gas and rubber bullets, farmers from Punjab have been protesting outside Delhi since February, a reprisal of the uprisings of 2020 and 2021, albeit on a smaller scale. Farmers protesting against new farm laws While the Bharatiya Janata Party has dominated large swathes of India’s rural heartland in the last 10 years, discontent …

India’s silent youth crisis: College-educated but poorer than a farm hand
8 months ago

India’s silent youth crisis: College-educated but poorer than a farm hand

Al Jazeera  

Two-thirds of India’s unemployed youth are educated — a fraction which has doubled since 2000. “My friends keep mocking me, saying even uneducated workers at corner shops earn more than I do,” Sawale says. “They are educated but have to toil just like we do.” A degree in vain Nearly 100km away, in Ralegaon town, this reality defines 27-year-old Sidhant …

Has the growth of India’s economy translated into domestic jobs?
9 months ago

Has the growth of India’s economy translated into domestic jobs?

Live Mint  

Recently, two international organizations published their assessment of India’s labour market and employment situation. Over the 42 years between 1980-81 and 2021-22, non-farm employment in India grew at a compounded average annual growth rate of 3.16%. As stated in its report, the concern of the World Bank is that the employment ratio in South Asian economies, including India, has declined …

Data on what Indians earn does have plenty to reveal of poverty in India
9 months, 1 week ago

Data on what Indians earn does have plenty to reveal of poverty in India

Live Mint  

Even though the fact-sheet on the Consumption Expenditure Survey has been officially released, the debate on poverty is far from over. For all of India, it would imply a poverty line of ₹445 per day, slightly higher than the government notified minimum wages. This was only ₹310 per day in case of agricultural workers, lower than the estimate reported by …

Employment scenario in India grim, says ILO report
9 months, 2 weeks ago

Employment scenario in India grim, says ILO report

The Hindu  

India’s youth account for almost 83% of the unemployed workforce and the share of youngsters with secondary or higher education in the total unemployed youth has almost doubled from 35.2% in 2000 to 65.7% in 2022, as per the India Employment Report 2024 released by the International Labour Organisation and the Institute of Human Development here on Tuesday. Paradoxical improvements …

We must not let Indian agriculture turn into an unending tragi-comedy
10 months, 1 week ago

We must not let Indian agriculture turn into an unending tragi-comedy

Live Mint  

Third, agricultural spends have a targeting problem. Professor Ashok Gulati estimates that the MSP system’s total coverage is limited to only 5.6% of Indian farmers and just 2.2% of our agricultural produce by value. Juxtapose this with the fact that agriculture today accounts for a much lower portion of rural household incomes than is usually imagined. As per the National …

Poverty levels below 5%, claims NITI Aayog chief
10 months, 2 weeks ago

Poverty levels below 5%, claims NITI Aayog chief

The Hindu  

Less than 5% of Indians are now expected to be below the poverty line, and extreme destitution has almost gone away, a top government official asserted on February 25, citing the findings of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey for 2022-23. Subrahmanyam, the chief executive officer of the Centre’s think tank Niti Aayog, averred that growth is “broad-based” with rural Indians’ …

Indian economy is resilient amid global slowdown: Sitharaman
1 year, 1 month ago

Indian economy is resilient amid global slowdown: Sitharaman

Hindustan Times  

The Indian economy is “remarkably resilient” amid a global slowdown because of “solid” domestic demand, moderate inflation, sustained capital expenditure and continued buoyancy in revenue collections, the finance ministry said in its monthly review on Tuesday. “Despite rising input costs, overall sentiment in the services sector remains upbeat, driven, among others, by an upswing in the tourism cum hotel industry …

Labour and its discontents
1 year, 3 months ago

Labour and its discontents

Hindustan Times  

There is a widespread consensus that employment generation is India’s central economic challenge. At one level, it can be argued that failure to reduce the employment share of agriculture is India’s biggest labour market challenge. At another, it can also be argued that the quality of non-agricultural jobs, caste-based inequalities in labour markets and a big gender gap in employment …

Unemployment rate dips in India
1 year, 5 months ago

Unemployment rate dips in India

Deccan Chronicle  

New Delhi: India’s overall unemployment rate fell in July as rural areas saw increased demand for agriculture labour with the onset of monsoon rains. Rural unemployment rate fell to 7.89%, from 8.73% in June, while urban unemployment rate ticked up, to 8.06% from 7.87% in the same period. While the agriculture sector saw activity with improved rains, demand for labour …

Review of Distress in the Fields — Indian Agriculture after Liberalization: A broken harvest
1 year, 8 months ago

Review of Distress in the Fields — Indian Agriculture after Liberalization: A broken harvest

The Hindu  

Professor R. Ramakumar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has put together a useful volume on Indian agriculture by scholars in the field. The 16 essays in Distress in the Fields: Indian Agriculture after Liberalization, cover six comprehensive themes in 500 pages: Land and Agrarian Relations, Investment and Expenditure; Agricultural Trade; Costs, Profits and Incomes; Credit and Insurance; and …

How falling farm incomes impact India’s economy
1 year, 9 months ago

How falling farm incomes impact India’s economy

Live Mint  

After a period of robust crop prices, farm incomes are likely to take a hit in 2023 following a glut in perishable prices and damage wreaked by unseasonal rains. In March, ready-to-harvest winter crops like wheat, chick peas and mustard were damaged by hailstorms and unseasonal rains in several states. But higher prices for rice and wheat are a result …

Book Review: ‘Distress in the Fields: Indian Agriculture after Economic Liberalization’ edited by R Ramakumar
1 year, 10 months ago

Book Review: ‘Distress in the Fields: Indian Agriculture after Economic Liberalization’ edited by R Ramakumar

The Hindu  

Published : Feb 23, 2023 10:40 IST Distress in the Fields is an exhaustive account of the agricultural policies enforced in India after the 1991 economic reforms and the agrarian crisis that followed. “Economic reforms after 1991 explicitly rejected the need for institutional transformation in agriculture,” writes Prof. Ramakumar in the introductory chapter. Madhura Swaminathan delves into studying interpersonal inequalities …

Economic Survey 2023: Centre's MSP Boost For Crops Powered Agriculture Sector To Robust Growth
1 year, 11 months ago

Economic Survey 2023: Centre's MSP Boost For Crops Powered Agriculture Sector To Robust Growth

ABP News  

The Economic Survey 2022-23 was tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday in the parliament. As all eyes are on the Budget 2023, where the expectations for the agriculture sector remain upbeat, the Eco Survey 2022-23 showed that the performance of the agriculture and allied sector has been buoyant. As per the Eco Survey tabled in the Parliament, the …

We did not manage to double the income of Indian farmers
2 years ago

We did not manage to double the income of Indian farmers

Live Mint  

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. Nonetheless, based on the SAS, the income of farmer households from crop cultivation declined 1.5% per annum between 2012-13 and 2018-19, similar to what …

The rise of rural manufacturing
2 years, 1 month ago

The rise of rural manufacturing

The Hindu  

There is growing evidence to suggest that the most conspicuous trend in the manufacturing sector in India has been a shift of manufacturing activity and employment from bigger cities to smaller towns and rural areas. This study investigated the urbanisation of the Indian manufacturing sector by “combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors and found that manufacturing plants in …

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report
2 years, 5 months ago

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report

Hindustan Times  

The overall unemployment rate eased to 6.80% in July, a 1 per cent decline compared to June, the lowest since 6.56% in January, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private organisation reported on Monday. {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} {{^userSubscribed}} {{/userSubscribed}} In rural India, the unemployment rate fell to 6.14% in July against 8.03% in the previous month. The data for urban areas …

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report
2 years, 5 months ago

At 6.80%, unemployment rate in India lowest in 6 months: Report

Hindustan Times  

The overall unemployment rate eased to 6.80% in July, a 1 per cent decline compared to June, the lowest since 6.56% in January, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a private organisation reported on Monday. In rural India, the unemployment rate fell to 6.14% in July against 8.03% in the previous month. The data for urban areas suggests that unemployment rose …

Farmers should earn as much as doctors and engineers | OPINION
2 years, 6 months ago

Farmers should earn as much as doctors and engineers | OPINION

India Today  

India is largely considered a blessed land because of how rich the soil is. In normal agricultural soil, the minimum organic content should be between 36%, but in large parts of the world, it is well below 1%. ECONOMIC POLICY FOR FARMERS This is why the Conscious Planet Save Soil movement is about bringing policy change, that agricultural soil should …

A hazy picture on employment in India
2 years, 11 months ago

A hazy picture on employment in India

The Hindu  

The two important indicators of structural transformation in any economy are rates of growth and changes in the structural composition of output and the workforce. Also, the unemployment rate in the female labour force in rural areas is far lower than the male labour force, whereas the opposite holds true in urban areas. This is despite the fact that the …

EXPLAINED: What Cooking Fuel, School Attendance Can Say About Deprivation As India Launches New Poverty Index
3 years, 1 month ago

EXPLAINED: What Cooking Fuel, School Attendance Can Say About Deprivation As India Launches New Poverty Index

News 18  

India is globally acknowledged to have made big strides on pulling people out of poverty in recent decades. “The National MPI Project is aimed at deconstructing the Global MPI and creating a globally aligned and yet customised India MPI for drawing up comprehensive Reform Action Plans with the larger goal of improving India’s position in the Global MPI rankings,” says …

Data | Jobs increase in rural India in September
3 years, 3 months ago

Data | Jobs increase in rural India in September

The Hindu  

In India, 8.5 million new jobs were gained in September 2021, increasing the total employment to 406.2 mn from 397.8 mn in August, according to CMIE’s Consumer Pyramids Household Survey. There was a significant improvement in the quality of employment as salaried jobs increased in both rural and urban regions. Click to remove AMP mode High rural share As many …

Dr Ashok Dhawale: ‘Crisis has engulfed agrarian society’
3 years, 4 months ago

Dr Ashok Dhawale: ‘Crisis has engulfed agrarian society’

The Hindu  

Dr Ashok Dhawale, national president, All India Kisan Sabha, India’s largest farmers’ organisation, has spearheaded the farmers’ movement for over three decades, and is one of the prominent faces of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha. The simple fact is that India’s agricultural growth rate in the 1980s was higher than the agricultural growth rate in the last 30 years of neoliberal …

India’s farm sector to sustain momentum, but that’s not enough
3 years, 8 months ago

India’s farm sector to sustain momentum, but that’s not enough

Hindustan Times  

India’s farm sector is forecast to maintain its remarkable expansion in 2021-22 on the back of robust output and prices despite the coronavirus pandemic. A normal monsoon will continue to see an expansion of the agriculture sector, aside from good encouraging prices and acreage trends,” said Abhishek Agrawal of Comtrade, an agricultural trading firm. Better performance of the agriculture sector …

‘Farm to Factory’: Employment for Marginal Farmers, Farm Labourers Need of the Hour in Rural India
4 years ago

‘Farm to Factory’: Employment for Marginal Farmers, Farm Labourers Need of the Hour in Rural India

News 18  

In farming, size matters. Farming is a seasonal affair, not a full-time job so the second job option mostly required by the small, marginal farmers and farm labourers in their nearby areas that’s why new industrial investment should be attracted in rural and backward areas by offering special incentives. Special incentives are being offered to develop industrial corridors and clusters …

In agri-reforms, go back to the drawing board
4 years ago

In agri-reforms, go back to the drawing board

The Hindu  

The purpose of agriculture reforms is to increase farmers’ incomes. The problem of low incomes in India’s agriculture sector is a complex systems problem which cannot be solved by agriculture experts alone. Economists point, wistfully, to the firmness with which bold reforms were brought about in 1991, and how the government stood up to the ‘Bombay Club’ of industrialists who …

Poor Farmers, Small Landholdings & Low Crop Yield Crisis: Why India Desperately Needs Farm Reforms
4 years ago

Poor Farmers, Small Landholdings & Low Crop Yield Crisis: Why India Desperately Needs Farm Reforms

News 18  

When it comes to agriculture, India is a land of contradictions. India is one of the top producers of several crops in the world but when it comes to productivity parameters, i.e., crop produced per unit of land, we are yet laggards. However, when it comes to the agricultural yield, or amount of crop produced per unit of land, we …

Don’t take rural demand for granted as a growth driver
4 years, 3 months ago

Don’t take rural demand for granted as a growth driver

Live Mint  

Rising covid afflictions in the hinterland are indeed worrying—not just because of the relatively poor health infrastructure there, but also the wider disruption to economic activity it portends. Two, India’s rural-focused measures such as higher spending under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, extension of concessional credit to farmers, and front-loading of payments to farmers under the Pradhan …

How growth reshaped India’s destiny, and why we need an encore
4 years, 5 months ago

How growth reshaped India’s destiny, and why we need an encore

Live Mint  

The pandemic-induced recession has brought back memories of 1979, when India’s GDP contracted by more than 5 percent for the first time since independence. And if the GDP growth rate were to revert to the pre-1979 trajectory of 3 percent per annum, it would take nearly 30 years for India’s per capita income to double. India’s growth process over the …

Rural India reels under economic slump
4 years, 11 months ago

Rural India reels under economic slump

Hindustan Times  

With food inflation hitting 14% in December 2019 and real rural wages declining for eight consecutive months, rural India is among the worst hit by the current economic slowdown. Currently, two of the Government of India’s largest schemes focussed on reviving the rural economy have been the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman …

Budget 2020: Govt must give priority to agriculture, empower farm sector to revive economy; don't hand out doles and sops
4 years, 11 months ago

Budget 2020: Govt must give priority to agriculture, empower farm sector to revive economy; don't hand out doles and sops

Firstpost  

In Budget 2020, it is fervently hoped that the government will focus on genuinely empowering the farm sector. For instance, while the average farmer gets only Rs 711 a month from livestock rearing, farmers in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and other progressive states get around Rs 100 per milch cattle per day for 300 days a year. Except in the …

Only reasonable income jobs can help curb inequality in India, says Narayana Murthy
5 years ago

Only reasonable income jobs can help curb inequality in India, says Narayana Murthy

Firstpost  

Mumbai: The country needs to focus on creating jobs that give a reasonable income to tackle the issue of inequality, Infosys co-founder and chairman emeritus NR Narayana Murthy said on Sunday. “The only way you can reduce inequality in a country like India is through the creation of jobs, and creation of jobs with a reasonable income,” Murthy said while …

The link between jobs, farming and climate
5 years, 3 months ago

The link between jobs, farming and climate

The Hindu  

At a panel discussion hosted recently by the students of Delhi’s Ambedkar University, the topic was, ‘Are we heading for an economic crisis?’ Presumably, they had been prompted by the all-absorbing news of a slowing economy. Those who heard the address to the United Nations climate change summit by the teenager Greta Thunberg earlier this month may not be as …

A rural stimulus: On MGNREGA wage hike
5 years, 3 months ago

A rural stimulus: On MGNREGA wage hike

The Hindu  

The government’s statistical machinery has begun work on revising the indices that capture the trends in consumer prices experienced in rural India. But two-thirds of the dated inflation index is still driven by food prices, which may effectively end up understating the price pressures facing rural households. This depressant effect could be accentuated when low food inflation coincides with decelerating …

Women's agricultural labour cause of malnutrition in rural India
5 years, 6 months ago

Women's agricultural labour cause of malnutrition in rural India

India TV News  

In order to improve women's lives and household nutrition and health outcomes in rural India, policies need to be context-specific, taking into consideration factors such as caste and location, says new research led by an Indian-origin scientist from University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Recognition of Indian women's roles in both agriculture and domestic work is key to improving …

When Rural Jobs Disappear, Women Are The First To Lose Out
5 years, 8 months ago

When Rural Jobs Disappear, Women Are The First To Lose Out

The Quint  

“Before you would see groups of waiting workers divided by skill, language and of course gender too; but now in the past two years and especially post-demonetisation a new division has emerged amongst the women,” she said. Operating with the upper hand as demand for jobs has decreased, employers have been asserting their bargaining power to divide the women on …

Falling incomes
5 years, 9 months ago

Falling incomes

The Hindu  

THE north-western plains of Uttar Pradesh, covering Meerut, Baghpat, Bulandshahr, Muzaffarnagar, Rampur and Saharanpur, boast the highest land productivity in the State. The Modi-Yogi Adityanath combine has spelt disaster for the farmers of Uttar Pradesh, according to the farmer Rambeer Singh of Mawana tehsil in Meerut district. How will a farmer survive?” Farmers across Uttar Pradesh have been protesting outside …

It’s a great leap backward on the employment front in India’s rural areas
5 years, 11 months ago

It’s a great leap backward on the employment front in India’s rural areas

Live Mint  

Shiv Prasad has a plan—one that he feels can change his destiny. “The problem is that we, being part of the government, cannot acknowledge that demonetization seriously disrupted the flow of activity and massively contributed to employment-related problems.” A visit to a government-run industrial training institute in Banda, nestled inside a village named Motihari, is testimony to the utter lack …

Budget 2019 sops for agrarian sector: Rs 6,000 to small and marginal farmers good move, but needs enhancement
5 years, 11 months ago

Budget 2019 sops for agrarian sector: Rs 6,000 to small and marginal farmers good move, but needs enhancement

Firstpost  

The NDA government’s decision to provide Rs 6,000 per year to each farmer with a land holding of less than 2 hectares is a major boost for the sector that has been witnessing a sharp decline in the numbers of cultivators since 2001. This assured income of Rs 500 per month is vital for small and marginal farmers as only …

Core inflation flourishes in Rural India amid growing agrarian crisis
6 years ago

Core inflation flourishes in Rural India amid growing agrarian crisis

Live Mint  

When income is stagnant, a logical outcome could be curtailing expenditure. But rural India seems to be fine with paying higher prices for services that range from education to matinee shows. The chart above shows inflation for services and a few discretionary items has been higher in rural areas compared to urban centres. It is also clear that farm income …

Farmers plan march in New Delhi: Agrarian crisis is deep and pervasive, but not fully appreciated or remedied
6 years, 1 month ago

Farmers plan march in New Delhi: Agrarian crisis is deep and pervasive, but not fully appreciated or remedied

Firstpost  

There are waves and waves of marches by farmers, landless and tribals in many parts of India these days, particularly to the seats of power. Editor’s note: This article is the first of a two-part series analysing the agrarian crisis in India, in light of the various marches and protests undertaken by farmers in recent months to highlight their problems. …

The enormity of job challenge that India faces
6 years, 2 months ago

The enormity of job challenge that India faces

Live Mint  

While there is no clarity on the extent of jobs created in the economy since 2011-12, there is no disagreement that the economy has failed to create enough jobs. The unrest among farmers driven by declining incomes is also a manifestation of the problem of employment in a country with almost half of the total workforce working in agriculture. The …

Opinion | Indian agriculture’s problem of scale
6 years, 3 months ago

Opinion | Indian agriculture’s problem of scale

Live Mint  

The past few days have neatly summed up the scale and nature of the challenges facing India’s agriculture sector. First, the provisional agriculture census 2015-16 showed that landholdings have continued their decades-long trend of fragmentation, leading to a further rise in the proportion of small and marginal farmers. In his famous 1962 The Economic Weekly article, “An aspect of Indian …

Kisan Kranti Yatra: Low income major cause of agrarian distress, but is higher MSP solution to farmers' woes?
6 years, 3 months ago

Kisan Kranti Yatra: Low income major cause of agrarian distress, but is higher MSP solution to farmers' woes?

Firstpost  

The current farmers’ agitation demanding a higher minimum support price, among others, is puzzling for many since it had been raised by 15 percent for 13 kharif crops, on an average, in July this year – the highest since 2013. Ironical as it may seem, a 2017 Niti Aayog report says that farmers’ income has not kept pace with the …

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