-The Hindu As output and demand slow, India must retain twin focus on the pandemic and economy Output in the eight core industries suffered an overall contraction for a third straight month in May, shrinking 23.4%, as the pandemic-induced lockdown kept large parts of the economy shuttered, the Commerce Ministry’s provisional figures show. Of the eight, all but one posted declines in production compared with a year earlier, with six sectors witnessing...

-The Hindu Parliamentary panel identifies shortfalls in budgetary funding and utilisation, resulting in critical infrastructure gaps Almost half of government schools in the country don’t have any electricity or playgrounds, according to a parliamentary panel on education. It identified shortfalls in both budgetary funding and utilisation, resulting in critical infrastructure gaps. In its report on the 2020-2021 demand for grants for school education submitted to the Rajya Sabha last week, the Parliamentary Standing...

-PTI * Output of Core Infrastructure industries shrank by 5.2% in September 2019 as seven of eight sectors witnessed negative growth * During the April-September period, the growth of core industries fell to 1.3% against 5.5% in the year-ago period NEW DELHI: Output of Core Infrastructure industries shrank by 5.2% in September 2019 as seven of eight sectors witnessed negative growth, according to official data released on Thursday. The eight core sectors had expanded...

-The Indian Express The August numbers mark the first contraction in Core Infrastructure output since April 2019, pointing to the continuing weakness in demand conditions. New Delhi: The growth of eight infrastructure sectors contracted 0.5 per cent in August following broad-based deterioration in output across as many as five sectors, including cement and electricity. But for a turnaround in refinery products — the largest constituent of the core sector — and...

-The Hindu Business Line The government must simplify and rationalise GST, kickstart rural consumption, revive agriculture and tackle the lack of credit for capital creation, says former PM Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an eminent economist himself, feels that the Narendra Modi-led government needs to come out of its habit of headline management and address the economic challenges which the country is facing today. “We cannot afford to deny that India is facing...