Commentary

The farm support policies and subsidies offered by rich nations, including the United States and the European Union, protect the interests of the wealthy in their own countries, while they distort farm produce prices globally. This hampers the possibility of the farmers in developing countries to earn a sustainable livelihood, as well as their access to markets.

The recent large-scale rejection of the devolution recommendations of the Fifth State Finance Commission by the Kerala government reflects a reversal of past progress, and a move towards fiscal centralisation.

The violence that broke out on the occasion of the bicentenary celebration of the defeat of the Peshwas at Koregaon Bhima on 1 January 2018 was a systematic attack by saffron mobs, egged on by Hindu right-wing organisations, to incite caste and communal hostilities between the Marathas and Malis on the one side and Dalits and Muslims on the other, a fact-finding report has concluded.

Prior to the long-delayed 2017 census, socio-economic planning in Pakistan had used obsolete data, widening the gulf between the rich and the poor. The new census has not drastically improved the situation either. The collected data remain incomplete, reflecting the infrastructural weaknesses of the underlying institutions. Many provinces have voiced their concerns about the recent census, but these have not been addressed. Without political resolve to compile and make available more exhaustive information, meaningful planning to address societal inequities in Pakistan cannot take place.

Nagaland politics is probably at its nadir at this moment. The events of the few months before the assembly election, the results for which were declared on 3 March 2018, demonstrate this. Moreover, the formation of a new government was delayed for a few days after the results were declared.