In the absence of income or expenditure-based headcount ratio, the growth in the real wages (i.e., nominal wages adjusted against retail inflation) of the manual workers is considered to be a good proxy to assess the trends in poverty. This is because the manual, unskilled/ semi-skilled labourers exist at the bottom of the pyramid or economic hierarchy, and most of them belong to the social categories Scheduled Castes (SCs) and...

-TheWeek.in Well-off are doing fine; stagflation confined to middle and lower-middle classes Kaushik Basu, former chief economic adviser to the government and former chief economist of the World Bank, is currently teaching at Cornell University in the US. In an exclusive interaction, he talks about the current challenges before the Indian economy and its future growth prospects. Excerpts: Q/ Is the Indian economy moving in the right direction? A/ The performance of the Indian...

-Down to Earth Since its launch in 2016, India’s flagship crop insurance scheme has seen a consistent fall in acreage and number of farmers covered Even if a single farmer’s crop is damaged in a village he will get the benefits of insurance  - Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said while launching the government’s flagship Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) from Madhya Pradesh in 2016. The words, however, mean nothing to the farmers...

-FinancialExpress.com Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The government has highlighted eight “specific action areas” to “build a vibrant eco-system for the rapid growth of the MSME sector.” Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: The MSME Ministry has released the draft National Policy for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India, proposing multiple measures to promote competitiveness, technology upgradation, cluster and infrastructure development, procurement of MSME products and dedicated credit support....

-The Hindu Business Line A host of initiatives in the Budget should make the sector vibrant Budget 2022 seeks to double farmers’ income by building a robust system that enables easier access to finance, the marketplace and new-age technology. The government has allocated a sizeable amount for rural infrastructure development. This will help farmers get better access to the marketplace National Federation of State Co-operative Banks (NAFSCOB) data of 2019-20 shows that around...