-PTI/ The Hindu “Overall, the difference between wholesale and retail inflation is primarily Due to supply-side factors which should decrease and therefore going forward even the retail inflation should ease,” Mr. Subramanian said. Attributing the rise in inflation to supply-side frictions, Chief Economic Adviser K V Subramanian has exuded confidence that retail inflation will come down in the days ahead with the easing of lockdowns. According to the government data, retail inflation rose...

-The Hindu The crisis in agriculture demands that the government announce a strong fiscal stimulus for the rural economy A rather confident statement heard in the midst of India’s COVID-19-induced economic slowdown is this: “Agriculture will lead India’s economic revival”. But how valid is this claim put forward by government spokespersons and some observers? Four major arguments are offered. First, India’s food grain production in 2019-20 was 3.7% higher than in 2018-19. The...

-Hindustan Times The international study includes data from Indian rural areas while measuring the impact of some weather events on suicides. Not only drought but flooding or even extreme rainfall leading to excess water availability is linked to higher cases of suicides among those above the age of 15 years in rural areas, a new study has suggested. In an analysis of 9,456 suicides between 2001 and 2013 in randomly selected rural areas,...

-Firstpost.com While Odisha was being considerably ranked low in many indices at the national level, the most important feature of the state government during the current time has been the dynamic and evolving governance structure India is home to half of the wasted children (those with a low weight for their height) globally, according to the recent Global Nutrition Report 2020. Moreover, more than a third (37.9 percent) of our children under...

-Livemint.com Rural India was battling economic difficulties even before the pandemic. The pandemic-induced lockdown increased hardships even further. The historic contraction in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) figure for the June-ended quarter has raised several questions on what the future holds, and what that contraction has meant for ordinary people. Macro-economic statistics can often fail to capture the diverse realities of a country as large as India, and hence it is useful...