-Scroll.in The Central government has thrown its weight behind traders, investors and corporations. Three ordinances approved at a cabinet meeting on June 3 were hailed as landmark decisions that would benefit Indian farmers and transform the agricultural sector. One of these, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, amends the existing act to remove all agricultural commodities from the list of essential commodities. The government assumes that “the freedom to produce, hold, move, distribute...

-The Hindu By suspending labour laws, states are exploiting the unique opportunity provided by the national lockdown As India slowly attempts to lift its nationwide lockdown, under compulsion of reviving the economy, labour rights are disappearing at an astonishing pace. Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, which are States ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, took the lead in suspending crucial labour laws for varying lengths of time. Undemocratic introduction This strategy visualises effecting...

-The Hindu The virus reveals how dependence on private sector-led economic growth has proved to be disastrous  Dr. Manmohan Singh’s 1991-92 Budget speech marked the beginning of the end of the ‘Licence Raj’ in India. The Budget also announced the reduction of import duties and paved the way for foreign-manufactured goods to flow into India. Following this, most of the manufacturing sector was opened up to foreign direct investment. India’s industrial policy...

-NDTV "Social Unity amid Physical Distancing" is the slogan of Kerala in the war against COVID-19. It was coined after some elements began to use measures for social distancing to justify caste pollution distance norms. Kerala is harnessing its abundant social capital to overcome the limited fiscal space in which state governments are forced to operate in quasi-federal India. Led by a state government with commitment and the actualization of synergies...

-The Tribune LIC is India’s biggest stock-market investor. Once listed, it might be tempted to increase its exposure to equities. We know what that did to India’s most popular mutual fund in the late 1990s. UTI’s US-64 collapsed because it had made too many risky investments. Most of 20 crore small investors never recovered investments A few years ago, I was part of a jury to select the best businesses in India...