Cheap milk prices, rising fodder cost and the difficulties in buying new cattle and selling old ones on account of cow vigilantism have cast a triple shadow on this sunshine sector in Indian agriculture, reports Sanjeeb Mukherjee.
While Jayalalithaa may have died her political legacy will continue to survive through the slew of 'Amma' branded products and services.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday promised more funds for social schemes like Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and mid-day cooked meal for school students and other programmes of the HRD ministry.
The Manmohan Singh government's rush to pass the Food Security Bill reflects extreme paucity of logic and action, says Neeta Kolhatkar
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Centre to release funds for MNREGA and to pay compensation to farmers in drought-affected areas.
Farm loan waivers should not be regarded as expenditure but as incentive and investment, argues B S Raghavan, the distinguished civil servant.
Seeking to blunt Bharatiya Janata Party's efforts to 'appropriate' legacy of Ambedkar, Sonia said, "Congress had given Dr Ambedkar his dues by appointing him as chairman of the Draft Committee of Constitution."
Education remains one of the key focuses of the new government.
The stock and foreign exchange markets have had a negative reaction to the government's biggest social security programme, the National Food Security Bill. Food minister K V Thomas questions the rationale behind such a response
'We are not talking pennies. The milk business is as large as the automobile industry (about Rs 4 trillion in sales),' points out T N Ninan.
Women and children have been given short shrift with these crucial sectors facing substantive budgetary cuts, discovers Rashme Sehgal.
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We present Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's full speech as he addressed the country on the occasion of 66th Independence Day, from Red Fort, Delhi.
India's primary failings have been in its inability to deliver health and education for all.
'Power sits lightly on Arun Jaitley's shoulders. Just because earth-shaking election results have brought his party in power, he has not gone recklessly ambitious. "Too soon, too fast" is not what he likes,' says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com about Budget 2014.
Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and warring uncle Shivpal were conspicuous in their absence.
Seeking to woo Muslims as well as upper castes, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday promised quota in police and other government jobs for minority community, release of "innocent" youths jailed on terror charges and constitution of an upper caste commission in its manifesto brimming with sops.
80-85 per cent of about 700 major infrastructure projects within the Centre's domain have been delayed.
This Budget signals a shift from a hand-out to a hand-up economy.
The government had pegged food subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore (Rs 900 billion) in the 2013-14 Union Budget.
'This is social reform, which has to be conducted from within society and by its institutions, like religious bodies, not by public officials and ministers. That is why I think the big change Modi seeks is actually not in his power to bring about,' says Aakar Patel.
Around 700 migrant workers, women and children have lost their lives in this reverse migration. But what is happening today with the migrant labour is only a continuation of the policies pursued by the Modi regime during the last six years. It is not for nothing that India was ranked the most dangerous country in the world for women in 2018 by the Thompson Reuters Foundation poll, points out Rashme Sehgal.
Education sector has reasosn to cheer Budget.
'The government that is talking all the time about national security and national interests should be concerned.' 'When national interests are jeopardised by their own project, they should pause and listen.' 'Whether it is the BJP or the Congress, they all want control over the people.' 'They don't give a damn if anything happens to the people of the country; they are only interested in what they can get out of the data.'
Mayawati urged the Muslim voters to vote for the party, saying her party has given tickets to 99 candidates from the community.
Secretary general of CBCI Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas on what he doesn't like about the new education policy.
Modi's name sparks muted enthusiasm, scepticism among youth; people expect better development pace from the prime minister
With facts and figures, the CAG report has highlighted how Gujarat was far from a role model for states across India, and that the progress made in this province in western India in improving agriculture, education, healthcare and empowerment of women and children, was not exactly creditable, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
Angeline Dias, program manager (PM) at Teach for India (TFI) talks about the lessons she's learned as part of her journey.
Glaring contrasts in various spheres in this Nehru-Gandhi family pocketborough are being raised by the rivals to target Congress President Sonia Gandhi for lop-sided development in the constituency from where she is seeking a fourth term.
The proposed changes to the child labour law to allow children and adolescents to work for their families would be most retrograde and regressive, say Shinzani Jain and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
What is Change really like in Bihar? Once seen as India's basket-case, what is its turnaround story like?
What is Change really like in Bihar? Once seen as India's basket-case, what is its turnaround story like? Archana Masih reports from India's other most talked about state.
