-The Hindu Business Line In view of the distortions arising out of excessive price support, direct income transfers to farmers is a better option The domestic debate has tended to conclude that the rise in MSP announced in the Budget is an essential part of achieving the government’s objective of doubling farm incomes. But MSP stands for minimum support prices and is an instrument designed for reducing income volatility, not for raising...

-Livemint.com Close to 97% of the 8,370 respondents surveyed in Jharkhand’s Nagri block said they prefer in-kind Food Subsidies due to the hardships faced while withdrawing cash and accessing ‘rations’ New Delhi: An audit by the Jharkhand government of the direct benefit transfer (DBT) of food subsidy has found that most households prefer subsidised grains over cash transfers. Close to 97% of the 8,370 respondents surveyed in Jharkhand’s Nagri block said they prefer...

-The Hindu It is now clear that the Indian economy is moving along a lower growth path At the end of May the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released much-awaited estimates of national income for the final quarter of the 2017-18 financial year. The timing coincided with the completion of four years in office of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government. In a propaganda blitz, surging through the Net, the government embraced the...

-Livemint.com While there are several creditable achievements, it is the deeper structural reforms where expectations from a strong government have not been met Amidst expectations of a magical transformation of the Indian economy, the Narendra Modi government took over the reins in May 2014. During the election campaign, people were led to believe that the Gujarat model of agricultural development, which delivered 8% growth in agriculture during fiscal years 2003-14, would be...

-The Hindu Business Line The SC interim order presents the biometric ID as a fait accompli for the underprivileged Last week’s interim order of the Supreme Court on a batch of petitions challenging Aadhaar may have provided temporary relief to a section of the population, but it appears to have simultaneously served notice on another section – a largely disadvantaged one — that the contentious biometric identification is something of a fait...