-The Telegraph New Delhi: India's growth juggernaut has started to lose steam. In the mid-year Economic Survey, chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian flagged big risks to economic growth and fiscal targets while asserting that the country had entered a "new phase of relatively low, possibly very low, inflation". In the first volume of the survey published in January, the government had forecast GDP growth in the range of 6.75 to 7.5 per cent...

-The Indian Express The Punjab government has sought to bring 5 lh area in the state under maize, as part of the original plan of reducing paddy area by 12 lh between 2012-13 and 2017-18. Jalandhar: For policymakers wanting to wean away Punjab farmers from water-guzzling paddy, 1.35 lakh hectares (lh) area sown under maize this kharif season may not seem bad, even if it is way below the 29.11 lh...

-The Indian Express The failure of populist rural credit schemes stems primarily from poor understanding of farm indebtedness in the first place. From the 1970s, a lot of private investment in tube-well irrigation, farm mechanisation and allied agricultural activities took place with bank credit support. After the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982, institutional credit flows not only accelerated, but also exhibited diversification to fund livestock...

-Hindustan Times The government Sarvodaya co-ed senior secondary school in Rohini Sector 21, which was opened on April 1, boasts of a swanky building with 69 rooms, including yoga room, music room, mathematics laboratory, and science laboratory. Dressed in a blue shirt, navy blue pants and a matching tie, Class 11 student Harsh Rawat feels no different studying at a government school than what he used to at a nearby private school...

-The Indian Express Bengal, which recently witnessed communal violence in Basirhat, has had 26 incidents and 3 deaths until May, as compared to 32 incidents (4 deaths) for entire 2016. The current year has seen 296 incidents of communal violence so far, with 44 deaths, according to data released by the home ministry in Parliament. The previous two years in their entirety saw 703 deaths (2016) and 751 (2015), with 86 and...