-IndiaToday.in Data shows that consumption and investment demand are declining. Private final consumption expenditure grew by only 3.1 per cent (a 4.5-year low), while fixed capital formation grew by four per cent, 0.4 per cent less than the last quarter of the financial year 2019. Gross Domestic Product or GDP is a tool to measure and compare how good or bad countries are doing economically. Recent data of the first quarter of...

-Economic and Political Weekly An overwhelming proportion of the poor live in low-income states in India. These states are home to over two-thirds of the children in the 0–14 age group. Therefore, provision of comparable levels of basic social services and physical infrastructure is important to ensure balance and stability in the Indian federation. This underlines the importance of intergovernmental transfers. Conceptually, general purpose transfers are given to enable the states...

-The Hindu The transfer of the RBI’s surplus is only a stopgap measure which will not address the key problem of a lack of demand There is no longer any room for doubt on the parlous state of the Indian economy. The automobile industry, seen as a bellwether of activity in the post-liberalisation years, is in crisis, as automakers, parts manufacturers and dealers have laid off about 350,000 workers since April this...

-Livemint.com The institutional bias against Muslims in our police force needs to be corrected urgently. Police personnel must be made to undergo sensitization courses A sample survey of attitudes does not offer an accurate map of anyone’s mind. Yet, responses to questions do point to people’s underlying motivations, biases, beliefs and justifications for these. According to a recent survey, every second policeman believes that Indian Muslims are “naturally prone" to crime. Perhaps...

-Hindustan Times The nature-development equilibrium is broken, leading to climate disasters. At least 100 people have died in floods in three states in peninsular India — Kerala, Karnataka, and Maharashtra — in August due to monsoon floods. There are several reasons, as reported in a series of articles in Hindustan Times, for the havoc and deaths, such as changes in land-use patterns, excessive quarrying and unscientific plantations (Kerala), poor management of dams...