One is almost certain to hear this from an economist that if something is available at free of cost or at a subsidised rate thanks to government intervention, then people tend to overuse or overconsume such goods/ commodities. So, the best solution is to create a market for such 'almost freely available' or 'highly subsidised' goods or commodities. Once people start paying to use or consume such goods/ commodities, they...

-Livemint.com Value-addition per worker needs to rise sharply in several fields for the country to enhance prosperity and reduce inequality It is known that productivity is the key to economic prosperity. How do we raise the productivity of service workers? This is one of the biggest challenges that India faces which hasn’t yet received much attention. Why is this important? First, low and medium-productivity service sectors (services except real estate, business and professional...

-The Statesman It is imperative to cut down on emissions drastically in this decade, else the country faces the imminent danger of major calamities becoming more frequent. It remains imperative for India to rein in its greenhouse gases (GHGs) emissions considering that the country is believed to be the third largest emitter, of which 14% comes from agriculture and allied activities. It is imperative to cut down on emissions drastically in this decade,...

The newly released Situation Assessment Survey of Agricultural Households and Land and Livestock Holdings of Households in Rural India (NSS 77th Round) establishes the fact that the farm households are more and more relying on wage incomes instead of 'net incomes from crop cultivation' for their livelihoods. In Marxian lexicon, proletarisation (a term that we can loosely use for depeasantisation) refers to the process in which the farmers/ tillers are...

-Livemint.com * The latest Situation Assessment Survey adds to findings that reveal worsening agrarian distress * Our agricultural sector has been in a state of perpetual decline after 2012-13 and is reeling under such shocks as back-to-back droughts, demonetization and the covid-19 pandemic Earlier this month, the National Statistical Office released the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of agricultural households for the 2018-19 agricultural year, which runs from July to June. This is the...