-Moneycontrol.com With priorities of the government changing, the agriculture sector is unlikely to see any major initiatives and reforms Inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November is further proof that agriculture produces only marginal surpluses. Only last year, observers were worried that the planners were not engaged enough to see that India is now surplus with most agricultural commodities. Please click here to read more. ...

-Livemint.com * A ground report reveals the rural landless poor are struggling to find work, and cutting down on staple food items * The govt needs to urgently expand the food safety net as it is sitting on surplus foodgrain stocks. The rural jobs scheme needs more funding and prompt payments CHITRAKOOT/ PANNA: It is well past 2 in the afternoon, but the wall clock hanging in Seema’s bare room is stuck at...

-Livemint.com India’s manufacturing sector is moving out of costly and congested cities to rural areas in order to stay competitive. But poor infrastructure is hampering its growth The global economic downturn has raised concerns about the effectiveness of conventional economic policies, which were designed for stabilization, and not for reviving growth in developing countries. Rural distress, spatial disparities, the gender divide and climate change, all combined with the threat of low and...

-The Indian Express Farmer unions need to expand the scope of their advocacy. Every day, a gold miner in Russia leaves a mine with a wheelbarrow full of sand. Every day, the guard thoroughly checks the sand. On his retirement day, the guard asks the worker, “I know you have been stealing something, but can’t figure out what it is”. The worker whispers back, “I wasn’t hiding anything in the sand,...

-The Indian Express Growing divergence between consumption expenditure estimates from NSO surveys and GDP data is too big to be pushed under the carpet Recently, we had expressed concerns that with the GDP growth rate falling in the post 2011-12 period, the decline in the poverty ratio would be slow. During 2011-12 to 2018-19, both GDP and agriculture growth were lower than in the earlier period. The terms of trade were not...