People need the lord

Reports of a country-wide waiver of farm loans by the central government, on the lines of the Agricultural Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme announced by the UPA-II government in 2008, have been doing the rounds.It’s hardly surprising, in view of the belief that it is widespread rural distress that unseated the BJP governments of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The perception that the promise of farm loan waivers helped the Congress win Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have added fuel to the speculation. That a farm loan waiver scheme by the Vasundhara Raje government couldn’t stave off defeat is of course airily brushed away.The Reserve Bank of India says total farm loan waivers amounted to 0.32% of the country’s GDP in 2017-18 and states have already budgeted for waivers to the extent of 0.2% of GDP this fiscal. Since 2014, we have seen agricultural debt relief announcements in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, … [Read more...] about Quick Take | Farm loan waivers end up hurting the people they want to help

Tottenham Hotspur boss Jose Mourinho has called for a collective effort to plug their leaky defence which has conceded "cheap goals" in his first four matches at the club.Spurs have conceded eight goals in all competitions and failed to keep a single clean sheet since Mourinho took over from Mauricio Pochettino last month."We have to sort out our defence. We have conceded two goals in every match, we are conceding cheap goals," Mourinho told a news conference on the eve of Saturday's home league match against Burnley.Close "We have to work on it, but it is hard, as we had a recovery day yesterday and we play tomorrow. To analyse, to comment and to coach in a meeting room helps, so hopefully we'll get some positive things after the negative things. related news EPL: Watford name Pearson as head coach until end of season EPL: Manchester City flex financial muscle to leave neighbours United lagging behind "It's not the defence, it's the defensive process. I'm not looking at … [Read more...] about EPL: Tottenham Hotspur must fix leaky defence and stop cheap goals says Mourinho

For a Syrian refugee in Lebanon who is trying to navigate the legal path to resettlement, it can be difficult to find answers—and overstretched humanitarian organizations can take as long as three months to respond to an email when the demand for help is highest. A new chatbot called Mona, designed for Facebook Messenger and Telegram, can help more quickly. advertisement advertisement “For us, it was about how could we get reliable information and services on the same platforms that refugees are already using, and reach them on their own terms with information and services that they could use when they actually need it most,” says Sarrah Nomanbhoy, one of the cofounders of Marhub, the startup that built the chatbot. Nomanbhoy and cofounder Peter Wasserman began working on the concept as students at the University of California Berkeley, and saw the desperate need for a better solution on field visits to Greece and Lebanon, where people at some settlements … [Read more...] about There’s now a chatbot to give refugees instant legal advice

Fed by powerful winds and cloudless skies, fires continue to rage across California. The Kincade fire in the Sonoma County wine country has swelled to over 70,000 acres—twice the size of San Francisco—and has forced about 200,000 people from their homes. Los Angeles County was just getting a handle on the Tick and Saddle Ridge fires when the new Getty inferno flared up, threatening the famed art museum complex. And now the Easy fire threatens Simi Valley. Some people have already lost their homes, and many more may. Far more will be without homes or electricity for some time. They all need help, which you can best provide by donating money to relief organizations working in the communities. Several provide shelter, food, toiletries, cash, and counseling support to people, while others offer rescue and care for displaced pets. You can donate to umbrella organizations providing aid across the state or focus on specific needs in specific regions. Statewide General aid: The … [Read more...] about How to help California wildfire victims: 13 things you can do as Kincade, Tick, Getty, Easy fires burn

Much has been made of the support given to demonetisation by Krishnamurthy Subramanian, the government’s new Chief Economic Advisor. To be sure, he did write in his columns that demonetisation was a revolutionary act and that the poor were not the worst affected. He had disparaging things to say about the policies of the Gandhi dynasty, just before the elections to the Uttar Pradesh state assembly. He also wrote about the rise of crime in Uttar Pradesh under Mayawati and the Samajwadi Party, again just before the elections there.But while these views may have earned him brownie points among the powers that be, to his credit Subramanian hasn’t shied away from having independent views on several other subjects. For instance, he castigated the move to remove former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who had been his teacher; saying we don’t treat our heroes well. He has been critical of the non-implementation of several of the recommendations of the PJ … [Read more...] about Quick Take | Gandhi family critic, Raghuram Rajan fan: How CEA Krishnamurthy sees the world