-Livemint.com The recent decline in the labour force participation rate should be a matter of deep concern for the Indian economy It has been a year since PRIme Minister Narendra Modi surPRIsed the country with the demonetisation announcement. Numerous commentators had criticized the move at the time for a variety of reasons, the most prominent among these being: (a) demonetisation was the wrong instrument for the intended objective of eliminating black money...

-The Financial Express Every year, the onset of winter in Delhi unfailingly brings to the fore the burning of paddy residue in Punjab and Haryana, given the practice contributes significantly to the national capital’s air pollution woes, with severe consequences for public health. According to an IIT study, 17% of the PM 10 load and 26% of the PM 2.5 load in October-November in Delhi can be attributed to post-monsoon crop...

-Hindustan Times The design of large injections of public funds for India’s agriculture economy needs to be informed with rigorous evaluations on what is effective for higher farm productivity. A wage subsidy for farm-labour is one modification that needs an evaluation, to generate evidence to inform how the MGNREGA policy generates employment when there is need, but without stress to farm production Indian agriculture is witnessing a period of complex socio-economic distress,...

-The Hindu Jaipur: Upping the ante against the Vasundhara Raje government, leading Hindi daily Rajasthan Patrika on Thursday left its editorial blank, with a thick black border, to register its strong opposition to the controversial criminal law ordinance that puts restrictions on the media and gives protection to public servants. The newspaper headquartered in Jaipur, which has already announced its boycott of Chief Minister Raje, decided to leave the editorial blank on...

-The Hindu Business Line Market rates have fallen below MSP levels due to demonetisation hangover, poor offtake Bengaluru: The Narendra Modi government is finding it hard to live up to its promise of doubling farm incomes by 2022 given the challenge it faces in addressing the unremunerative PRIces of farm produce. The kharif harvest began a little over a month ago, and already the PRIces of a majority of the crops have slipped...