-The Hindu Business Line Trade deficit, primary income outweighed services surplus: ICRA India’s current account deficit (CAD) doubled sequentially to an all-time high of $36.4 billion in Q2 FY23 from $18.2 billion in the previous quARTer, and was nearly four times higher than the $9.7 billion posted a year ago. CAD for FY22 was at $38.77 billion. The Q2 CAD was equivalent to 4.4 per cent of the country’s GDP as against 2.2...

-The Hindu Any delay in funds to be paid to States for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme payments is unethical A testy exchange in the Rajya Sabha between the Minister of State for Rural Development, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, and the Trinamool Congress MP, Jawhar Sircar, on the withholding of funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in West Bengal laid bare a key implementation issue —...

-The Hindu It is clear that India does not need a law for forced population control Early in December, two Members of Parliament of the Bharatiya Janata PARTy, Ravi Kishan and Nishikant Dubey, introduced in the Lok Sabha a private members’ Bill aimed at population control in India. Stating that population rise is the most significant reason for India’s slow rate of development, the Bill argues for an immediate need for population...

-IANS/ Business Standard According to Petroleum Ministry sources, petrol prices stood at Rs 81.06 per litre in October 2020, however by October 2022, they had risen only 19.3 per cent to Rs 96.72 per litre Even as the average price of Indian basket of crude oil increased by 102 per cent (from $43.34 to $87.55) between October 2020 and October 2022, the retail prices of petrol and diesel have increased in India...

-Factchecker.in/ Scroll.in MGNREGA is a social security and employment scheme which aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed employment in a year to every rural household. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while addressing the Lower House of the Parliament on December 14, claimed that the demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is declining. “There is now very obviously a declining demand for jobs in the...