Rural economy & welfare
Farm support, rural employment, food security and local government: whether programmes reach the people they are meant for.
Rural & welfare
A fixed DAP price and late subsidy rates are steering farmers towards India’s scarcest fertiliser
The ₹62,370 crore rabi package keeps a bag of DAP at ₹1,350. Because that guarantee covers only DAP, and the rates arrived six weeks into the season, it also steers farmers towards the fertiliser India finds hardest to import.
Rural & welfare
India’s panchayats need local plans that can be financed and maintained
A ₹7,395.55 crore programme will help rural local bodies plan and coordinate spending. The payoff depends on whether their plans connect budgets to reliable services.
Rural & welfare
Soil testing in India needs to change the economics of a farmer’s decision
India’s rabi campaign promotes soil-based fertiliser advice. Farmers are more likely to adopt it when recommendations arrive on time and the risk of trying them is manageable.
Rural & welfare
India’s rural skilling programmes should measure earnings after migration costs
DDU-GKY 2.0 raises the minimum placement period to six months. Rural workers benefit most when the job improves earnings after the cost of taking and keeping it.
Rural & welfare
Street vendors need working capital that raises earnings after repayment
PM SVANidhi has widened access to formal credit. The test is whether vendors earn more after financing costs and have enough stability to use the loans productively.
Rural & welfare
India’s rural employment guarantee needs to count requests for work
The new rural jobs law offers 125 days per household. Its effectiveness as income insurance depends on whether requests are registered, work is offered and wages arrive on time.
Rural & welfare
India should measure ration reform by the grain households receive
India’s SARTHAK-PDS scheme puts logistics, ration-shop incentives and authentication in one programme. Its test is how much grain eligible households actually take home.
Rural & welfare
India’s kharif support prices matter most where farmers can sell at them
The new support prices favour several pulses and oilseeds on paper. Farmers will compare the prices they can actually realise after allowing for procurement, yield risk and the cost of switching crops.
Rural & welfare
India’s rural roads programme should pay for reliable journeys
The extension of PMGSY-III gives India time to complete critical links. Its returns depend on year-round travel to markets, schools and hospitals, including after construction ends.
Rural & welfare
Cheap farm credit is most valuable to farmers who can get it before sowing
The RBI’s January circular keeps subsidised crop credit at ₹3 lakh. The bigger policy test is whether farmers can obtain usable credit when input bills fall due.
Rural & welfare
India’s 125-day jobs guarantee will be tested when states run short of funds
Parliament has approved a longer rural jobs guarantee. Its value as insurance against bad harvests and weak labour markets depends on whether work can expand when a state exhausts its central allocation.