Self help groups in Uttar Pradesh learn to use the mobile phone as marketing tool
Rural women who run self-help groups are not short of confidence, but struggle to market their products. Social Saheli, a platform that helps women entrepreneurs with marketing, has taught them how to record videos, narrate their stories, and tap into the power of social media.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Waste and Want: 50 kg of food a person wasted every year, while 14% Indians malnourished
According to the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution, between 2017 and 2020, 11,520 tonnes of food grains stored in government godowns rotted. The Hunger Watch survey in December 2020 said 27% of Indians often went to bed hungry during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Amid bad harvest, Indian Govt approves import of 400,000 metric tonnes urad dal from Myanmar
Bad harvest back home and political instability in Myanmar made the Indian government approve 400,000 metric tonnes of Urad dal import from its eastern neighbour.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Scalding the pocket: Fuel, cooking oil, onion and pulses get more expensive
Although rising fuel prices have been most talked about, consumers have also been impacted by the hike in the prices of onions, pulses and edible oils.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Budget 2021-22: Crores declared for sugar mills, but what about farmers’ money withheld by them?
Sugar mills across the country have withheld payments running into crores to sugarcane farmers. The budget for 2021-22 has nothing to offer relief to these farmers.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Why Bihar’s paddy finds welcome in the mandis and rice mills of Telangana
Farmers in Bihar prefer to sell their paddy to traders and middlemen in Telangana that not just procures a huge haul of paddy from its own state, but also welcomes the grains from other states for its mandis and its 2,200 rice mills.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
MSP: How Telangana, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh increased procurement of paddy and wheat at MSP?
Maharashtra’s bonus of Rs 700 a quintal to paddy farmers, improved irrigation in Telangana, and ease of procurement in Madhya Pradesh have seen these states increase production and procurement of paddy and wheat at minimum support price (MSP).
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
More farmers in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh benefit from MSP than those in Punjab and Haryana
In the Kharif season of 2019-20, paddy was procured at MSP from 1.98 million farmers of Telangana versus 1.16 million farmers of Punjab, notes a Union ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution report. MSP benefits aren’t limited to Punjab and Haryana farmers alone.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
Bihar rice mill scam: A decade later, 2000 rice mills still shut in the state; paddy procurement 25% of the total production
Rice mills in Bihar took a pounding a decade ago when 2,000 of the total 3,000 mills in the state were shut down due to a multi-crore scam. The repercussions are still being felt in the state and paddy farmers continue to suffer the consequences.
Mithilesh Dhar Dubey
44% rural citizens willing to pay for the corona vaccine; two-third want its price to not exceed Rs 500: Gaon Connection Survey
Two-third of those who are willing to pay for the vaccine want its price not to exceed Rs 500. Another one-fourth would like to pay between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for two doses of COVID-19 vaccine. Whereas, around eight per cent are willing to pay between Rs 1,000 and Rs 2,000 for two doses of the vaccine.