-The Hindu Total vehicle retail sales continue to be on the decline. Total vehicle retail sales in the country continued to decline year-on-year in September 2020, even as passenger vehicle registrations turned positive for the first time since March growing at 9.81% during the month, as per data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. Total vehicle registrations fell to 13.44 lakh units in September 2020, down 10.24% from about 14.98 lakh units...

-The Indian Express In a presentation made to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and senior ministers in a meeting on Monday, the state finance department claimed that the unemployment rate had climbed from 3.9 per cent in July to 6.2 per cent in August. Mumbai: A spike in Maharashtra’s unemployment rate in August is threatening the revival of the Covid-hit economy, a government report has said. In a presentation made to Chief Minister Uddhav...

-Down to Earth Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs should create a COVID-19 response cell to monitor issues and provide support, it said The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis has hit the forest dwellers in India hard: The pandemic has led to a loss of livelihood and employment, caused food insecurity and socio-economic distress for the marginalised forest-dwelling communities, according to a new report. Atrocities and injustices faced by these communities Due to forest,...

-Hindustan Times The Centre’s attempt to bulldoze the states on agriculture weakens the entire reform process Days after Parliament passed the controversial agriculture bills, several state governments have begun crafting strategies to avoid its implementation. This is a predictable consequence of a process of law-making that undermines India’s federal consensus. Agriculture is a state subject. The passage of national laws, on a state subject, marks a rupture in India’s federal trajectory. There is...

-Down to Earth Mounting expenses, under-provisioning of food subsidy budget leading to a huge debt is highly worrisome A fiscal crisis has been brewing in the last few years. Mounting food subsidy arrears — payable to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) Due to ‘under-provisioning’ of food subsidy expenses in successive union budgets — has forced FCI to take loans to finance its operations. FCI is the central agency that manages procurement, storage...