Just as farmers in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and elsewhere were gathering for violent protests to press their demands, the chief economic advisor to the government of India, Arvind Subramanian, delivered a lecture on agricultural economy which helps put the matters in perspective. Here are some relevant excerpts from Subramanian’s lecture at the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences on June 5, titled ‘Transforming Indian Agriculture: By Loving Some Agriculture Less and the Rest More’ 

 

 

Swaraj Party convenor, Yogendra Yadav, explains the ecological, economic and existential crisis behind farmers’ unrest.

 

 

The West Bengal government had announced the formation of a Transgender Development Board in March 2015, with an aim to look into the needs of the transgender and hijra community that is deprived of education, employment, healthcare facilities and survives mainly by begging on the streets and trains. But has it helped?

Kutumbashree, a Kerala government initiative, is an example for empowerment of women and the vulnerable. Sociocracy has been used in large, medium and small organisations successfully owing to its ability to focus on addressing individual needs to participate in decision-making and improving team dynamics. Akin to sociocracy is social development coaching, in which coaches look at individual needs and link this with group needs and to those aspects of the group that will enhance cooperation and harmony.

 

 

In April 2010, the central government brought a law guaranteeing the children access to free and compulsory primary education. Based on a simple idea of universalising education, the law brought with it a lot of hope. While the enrolment has certainly gone up over the years, many schools lack basic facilities. And education or learning still remains a distant dream for most of the children. The law also mandated that no child be held back in class until they complete the elementary education (that is, up to class 8). Though the students get promoted to the next class, they do not learn what they should in a given class.