-Networkideas.org The GDP growth in the first quarter (April-June) of 2020 over the first quarter of the previous year has been minus 24 per cent according to preliminary official estimates. But most knowledgeable people believe that even this is an underestimate of the actual contraction brought about by the lockdown. In fact, a former chief statistician of India, Pronab Sen, believes that the actual contraction would have been about 32 per...
More »SEARCH RESULT
How to reduce food, job insecurity in rural areas -Binoy Acharya, Ved Arya, Pratyaya Jagnannath, and PS Vijayshankar
-Hindustan Times Launch a massive programme to rehabilitate returnee migrants; allocate an additional Rs 50,000 crore for MGNREGS; extend the free ration scheme for six more months; revive and strengthen public systems of service deliver; RBI should give a directive to banks to extend a top-up loan of Rs 10,000 crore to Self-help Groups After the Covid-19 outbreak, 66% of rural households fell short of cash for food. About 40% reduced their...
More »Retail inflation to come down with easing of lockdowns: CEA
-PTI/ The Hindu “Overall, the difference between wholesale and retail inflation is primarily due to supply-side factors which should decrease and therefore going forward even the retail inflation should ease,” Mr. Subramanian said. Attributing the rise in inflation to supply-side frictions, Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian has exuded confidence that retail inflation will come down in the days ahead with the easing of lockdowns. According to the government data, retail inflation rose...
More »Three ordinances and a protest: Why Haryana and Punjab farmers are angry -Harish Damodaran, Anju Agnihotri Chaba and Parthasarathi Biswas
-The Indian Express These protests, preceded by sit-ins across Punjab, are expected to gather steam after September 14, when Parliament convenes for the Monsoon Session. Jalandhar, New Delhi and Pune: On Thursday, farmer organisations in Haryana defied prohibitory orders imposed amid the pandemic to hold a rally at the Pipli wholesale grain market near Kurukshetra. They even blocked the Delhi-Chandigarh national highway for a couple of hours, when the police initially did...
More »An agriculture-led revival as flawed claim -R Ramakumar
-The Hindu The crisis in agriculture demands that the government announce a strong fiscal stimulus for the rural economy A rather confident statement heard in the midst of India’s COVID-19-induced economic slowdown is this: “Agriculture will lead India’s economic revival”. But how valid is this claim put forward by government spokespersons and some observers? Four major arguments are offered. First, India’s Food grain production in 2019-20 was 3.7% higher than in 2018-19. The...
More »