-Hindustan Times The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has released data on accidental deaths and suicides in India. According to the report, 12,602 people engaged in the farm sector committed suicide in 2015, 2% more than in 2014. This highlights the growing distress in rural India thanks to consecutive years of drought and other natural calamities. The report shows that the share of farm suicides in total number of suicides has increased...

-The Financial Express Thiruvananthapuram: Ration shops in Kerala are readying to go the ATM way soon. As many as 14,500 ration retail shops in Kerala will soon be equipped with electronic point of sale (ePoS) machines, which would work as micro-ATMs. The Kerala State IT Mission has been asked to hasten a connectivity survey in rural areas to ensure uninterrupted internet connection, before introducing micro-ATM facility at all fair-price shops. Although the...

-Livemint.com The impact of demonetisation on the organized sector creates a visible effect. The suffering of Bharat is diffused, invisible, but hugely more painful ‘Why doesn’t the informal sector, supposedly badly hit by demonetisation, protest or scream in pain?’. Defenders of demonetisation often pose this question. The question assumes that the suffering poor people face because of government policies always finds political expression. If you want an answer to the question, please...

-The Hindu The unorganised manufacturing sector should be reoriented towards non-household units to provide efficiency gains. Ever since E.F. Schumacher, a British economist, published in 1973 his book Small is Beautiful, implying that small units are better in terms of performance indicators and labour absorption, several studies have endorsed the same idea and argued in favour of promoting small units. Stretching the argument a little further, it may be emphasised that small...

-Frontline.in Interview with Utsa Patnaik, professor emerita of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. By T.K. RAJALAKSHMI THE FALLOUT of the decision of the National Democratic Alliance government to demonetise currency of higher denominations has been felt across all sections of people. There are concerns that it will lead to an overall economic slowdown given the acute shortage of currency for industrial and agricultural operations. The impact on agriculture and those dependent on agriculture...