-Livemint.com Slogans, vision statements and acronyms are unlikely to be of any help to those in distress As the details of the mega fiscal package of ₹20 trillion announced by the prime minister are slowly being revealed by the finance minister (FM), it is increasingly becoming clear that it has less to do with the immediate crisis of lives and livelihood and more to do with the long-term agenda of reforms and...

-Business Standard Farmers allowed to sell 46 fruits and vegetables directly without bringing them to mandis After allowing FPOs to directly procure from farmers, Uttar Pradesh has announced another set of reforms to its Mandi Act. The state joins the long list of domains that have used the Covid-19 crisis to make changes in their APMC rules in order to facilitate direct procurement from farmers. Please click here to read more. ...

-Newsclick.in The lockdown has got the government talking about agri ‘reforms’ again, but the exploitation of India’s weakest farmers continues unchecked. It is a cruel irony that in the sixth week of the nationwide lockdown, the government is talking up omnibus agriculture “reforms” as if they can mitigate the growing distress in rural India. Reforms, no doubt, implies stricter compliance with online registration and payment rules, more focus on market-based pricing, and...

-The Indian Express Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s book helps frame the problem: Tilt in favour of consumer in food policy reduces incentives for farmers, makes it difficult to unlock resources for growth. Last month, Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s book, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years, was released. It is an account of India’s economic reform journey— a process in which Montek was an insider for about 30 years. Besides some very interesting...

-The Indian Express Policymakers need to stop thinking about India as a perennially supply-constrained economy focusing almost all policies and reforms to easing these constraints. Instead, it is time to let domestic demand play a greater role in India’s growth story. India’s fourth quarter GDP growth (calendar year 2019) printed another sub-5 per cent growth rate. It would have been lower had it not been for the large downward revisions to previous...