-The Hindu India is trying to rally the support of other developing countries in the World Trade Organisation to reform the “biased” system of assessing a country’s services trade policies, according to an official closely associated with the development. The existing system, developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), has significant quantitative and qualitative flaws, said Manoj Pant, Director of the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, and author of...

-Livemint.com A top economic adviser has flagged the risk of stagnation that lack of inclusive growth could cause. We must reduce inequality and help everyone achieve upward mobility The warning by Rathin Roy, a member of an economic panel advising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that India could be headed for a “structural crisis" has sparked a debate on whether the economy’s days of high single-digit growth rates are a thing of the...

-Livemint.com * Only 13% surveyed chose cash if it came at the expense of spending to improve public health and nutrition * The number grew to 35% if the cash came at the expense of improving roads New Delhi: A timely survey conducted in rural Bihar by a World Bank economist and two professors from the Georgetown University to gauge the response of poor people on the raging debate over a minimum income...

-The Pioneer In the absence of any sunset clause or distinct feature to identify the beneficiaries who succeed in climbing themselves out of poverty, the scheme of direct cash transfer as an income support welfare measure and as a potent tool of empowerment does not sound convincing even on paper Thanks to the proposal for the universal basic income, it has become a topic for discussion as one-fifth population of this country...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...