-Livemint.com The caste networks will disappear when the market economy starts to function efficiently The caste system is arguably the most distinctive feature of Indian society. The Indian population is divided into four hierarchical classes, or varnas, with a large sub-population of untouchables excluded entirely from the system. Within each of these classes, and among the untouchables, are thousands of castes, or jatis. The central rule in Hindu society is that individuals...
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Economy Plunging Headlong Into Recession -Prabhat Patnaik
-TheCitizen.in NEW DELHI: Volume II of the Economic Survey which was brought out by the Ministry of Finance a few days ago paints an extremely grim picture of the Indian economy. The growth rate of real Gross Value Added (GVA which is the appropriate thing to look at, since the GDP measure includes net indirect taxes and hence does not truly reflect output trends), was 6.6 percent for 2016-17 as a whole,...
More »A fresh perspective on farm suicides -A Srinivas
-The Hindu Business Line A recent book shows how a cocktail of indebtedness, masculinity and consumerism acts as a trigger. For those who have wondered whether indebtedness can be the sole factor driving farmers to take their lives, here is a book that introduces much needed nuance and complexity to the debate. Nilotpal Kumar’s book, based on a study of 22 suicide cases in Ananthapur district (accompanied by a fascinating ethnographic study...
More »Risks to growth: mid-year economic concerns
-The Hindu Given the recent policy changes, the CEA has done right to flag mid-year concerns Five months after the Economic Survey 2016-17 was released, Chief Economic Adviser Arvind Subramanian has presented the second volume of the annual economic review-cum-prognosticatory report. With the intervening period having provided a wealth of data points and policy developments, including the momentous roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax, there was a clear need to update...
More »Economy red flags go up -Jayanta Roy Chowdhury and R Suryamurthy
-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...
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