-The Indian Express GDP estimates are advance figures, but by the time they are revised only staid economists will be interested in them Unless we simply dreamt it, demonetisation delivered a massive shock to the economy in early November, which continued well into December because of slow pace remonetisation. The ensuing liquidity crunch affected most informal economic activity and some formal business, and economists generally agreed that declines in demand and disruption...

-PTI Aadhaar number will be required for one-time registration at the IRCTC ticketing site. The railways will soon move towards Aadhaar-based online ticketing system to prevent touts from blocking bulk tickets, end FRAudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation. Aadhaar number has been made mandatory for senior citizens to avail concessions in train tickets from April 1. A three-month trial run for this is going on. As per the new business plan 2017-18, unveiled...

-The Indian Express Government policies could not be FRAmed solely on the findings of international reports, he maintained. EVEN AS he acknowledged that the health impacts of air pollution were “real” and “dangerous”, Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave on Friday contested some of the numbers presented in a new global report, which has identified India as the worst affected country and attributed more than a million deaths in the country in...

-The Indian Express Integration of spot and derivatives markets for farm produce via e-NAM can be a potential game-changer There isn’t much from the recent Union Budget as far as new ideas for agriculture goes, yet it sends out a couple of signals suggesting the Narendra Modi government’s intent to integrate farmers better with the markets. One such signal is the proposal to come out with a ‘model law’ on contract farming for...

-Livemint.com Repeated price shocks take the sheen off horticulture crops grown by small and marginal farmers New Delhi: In the past few years, horticulture crops emerged as a favourite for small growers across the country. 2016-17 marks the fifth straight year when production of fruits and vegetables is estimated to surpass that of foodgrains. This signals a fundamental shift in India’s farm economy towards a growing share of horticulture crops, which now...