There is some respite expected for India in terms of prices of imported commodities. This may ease the depletion of its foreign exchange reserves. The country has faced a widening of its merchandise trade deficit from US$ -17.91 billion to US$ -26.91 billion between October 2021 and October 2022. The commodity price data provided by the World Bank in December 2022 (termed as The Pink Sheet) shows that energy prices plummeted by...

-The Telegraph Demand for sustainable or organic cotton on the rise, providing an opportunity for the country to excel A few years ago, images of the drying up of the eastern bed of the Aral Sea had shocked millions. It was linked to the widespread growing of unsustainable cotton, backed by the Uzbekistan government, to pocket greater forex earnings and satiate the demands of the global fashion industry. The demand for sustainable...

-The Telegraph Uncle of young migrant worker flying in with body ‘at own cost’ Calcutta: A 17-year-old migrant worker from East Burdwan’s Purbasthali died in Gujarat’s Morbi bridge collapse that has claimed at least 134 lives since Sunday evening. Habibul Sheikh, 17, a high school dropout, who went to Morbi to work at his uncle’s jewellery shop 10 months ago, visited the “hanging bridge” in Morbi with four other migrant workers from Bengal...

-The Telegraph India’s economic recovery is uneven India’s ranking as one of the world’s fastest growing economies — a bright spot in a troubled and slowing world economy — routinely figures in the public discourse. It was upheld even as oil prices zoomed and inflation surged early this year. It did not waver when growth forecasts were lowered some six months ago. It wasn’t rattled when growth underperformed in the April-June quarter....

-Livemint.com Tackle deficiencies of capital mobilization, access to state provisions and women’s participation to boost FPCs across India. In 2017, the Indian government reaffirmed its commitment to reduce rural distress among nearly 93 million farming households through efforts to double farmers’ income. What has been remarkable is the emergence of farmer producer companies (FPCs) as a viable way of supporting this approach. The last two years have been tumultuous. Pro-market legislation introduced in...