-The Hindu On the contrary, scrapping labour laws will only reduce wages, lower earnings and reduce Consumer demand Following the adage, “never waste a crisis”, the government of Uttar Pradesh, last week, introduced an ordinance that has scrapped most labour laws for three years — ostensibly for creating jobs and for attracting factories exiting China following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. These laws deal with the occupational safety, health and working...

-Newsclick.in Today's India has revealed a social innocence about genuine starvation and want, limiting public capacity to make demands of the state. Food is a necessity.  Several generations in India regard this home-truth as a stark fact that they have been brought up to respect, either due to experience, or through memory.  In some cases, such generations have lived on the edge of India's many Kalahandis, normally ignored, because they are ephemeral,...

-The Hindu With fears of contracting the virus escalating since March, stores across India saw a massive demand and consequently a shortage of stocks in hand sanitisers and masks. Retail prices of hand sanitisers have been capped at ₹100 for a 200 ml bottle, a notification by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs said on Friday. The prices of surgical masks (3 ply) and non-woven masks also were capped at ₹10 and ₹8...

-The Indian Express This government is barking up the wrong tree. First of all, it is solely responsible for the present slowdown. Second, it has no understanding of what has caused the problem. Third, therefore, it is flailing its arms in all directions except the right one and causing more pain. I have often been criticised for being critical of the present regime, even by people near and dear to me. One...

-The Indian Express Boosting consumption by leaving people with higher disposable incomes is the key strategy The fine print of the Union Budget for 2020-21 notwithstanding, the central strategy of the government seems to be to boost the disposable incomes of the Indian consumers. * What was the problem slowing down the economy? Typically, there are four engines of GDP (gross domestic product) growth. These are as follows: Consumption of the private individuals (or...