-Livemint.com * There is no such thing as a freebie in economics because ultimately somebody has to bear the cost of the supposedly free giveaways * CAG’s financial audit for 2013-18 concluded that Delhi has no debt sustainability issues as its GSDP grew faster than its public debt The Aam Aadmi Party’s win in the Delhi elections has inspired others to replicate its strategy. The West Bengal government’s last full budget before state...

-Hindustan Times The CAA-NPR-NRC controversy may deter citizens from offering authentic information Amid the anger and acrimony over the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the National Population Register (NPR), and a possible National Register of Citizens (NRC), which the government has said has not been finalised yet, there has been little thought regarding its effects on another growing challenge — the quality of official data. In the last few years, official data...

-The Hindu Business Line While proposals on agri-warehousing and viability-gap funding are positive, MGNREGA cutbacks could have been avoided The Economic Survey had a full chapter on agriculture and food management issues, highlighting the role of agricultural GDP; Minimum Support Price (MSP) regime, mechanisation of agriculture, farm credit, crop insurance, agri research and education, including in allied sectors such as livestock and fisheries, food processing and agricultural trade, besides rationalisation of food...

-The Indian Express Government does well to constitute panel on economic statistics, and even better to include critics on it The Narendra Modi government deserves credit for constituting a new Standing Committee on Economic Statistics “to review the extant framework relating to data sources, indicators, concepts/definitions and other issues” connected with measurement of economic activity. Significantly, the panel is headed by the former chief statistician of India, Pronab Sen, and has at...

-The Hindu Business Line It should resolve its structural issues and become globally competitive before getting into such arrangements The RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), which has been under discussion since 2012 and has the potential to alter trade expressively from its pattern to global politics, is reaching a crucial stage. Shakespeare’s analogy — paraphrased — “to do, or not do”, could not have been more apt for India in the given...