-Scroll.in India’s first chief statistician, Pronab Sen, is now country director of the International Growth Centre, which seeks to build effective growth facilities through engagement between policymakers and researchers. In this interview to Scroll.in, he speaks on the 50 days of demonetisation, its failings, its severe impact on the poor, the loss of credibility of the Reserve Bank of India, the push to make India a cashless or less-cash economy, and...

-Business Standard The demonetisation drive has hit job creation, beside adding to the stress on banks New Delhi: Demonetisation is expected to negatively impact the overall economy and job generation, a number of economists told Parliament's standing committee on finance. Reserve Bank governor Urjit Patel was to come but could not; he will do so on January 18.   The panel heard four economists — former chief statistician Pronab Sen; Mahesh Vyas, head of...

-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...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Premature deaths from kidney failure rose in India by about 38 per cent over the past decade, doctors said in a research study released on Tuesday that attributes this trend primarily to untreated or poorly managed diabetes. The study, based on an analysis of deaths in over a million households across the country, has found that kidney failure increased to 2.9 per cent of the tracked deaths between...

-The Hindu “We have around 45 crore bank accounts and if 1% of such accounts are picked up for scrutiny, that itself will make 45 lakh cases. Is it humanly possible? No chance”. Former Central Board of Direct Taxes chairperson Sudhir Chandra, who headed a high-level committee to tackle the black money menace back in 2011, has said that the Income Tax department will find it challenging to scrutinise all cash deposits...