-Scroll.in Full-day, quality childcare can make a crucial difference in India’s fight against malnutrition, and can possibly enhance incomes of working women. Savitaben is a tobacco worker in Rasnol village, Gujarat. She has two young children under five years of age, and every morning she leaves them in a crèche run by the Self-Employed Women’s Association or SEWA, a trade union of over 15 lakh poor, self-employed women workers. The children are...

-The Hindu There are substantive reasons for the questions being raised about the new GDP back series Without in any way impugning the integrity of the Central Statistics Office (CSO), most knowledgeable people are asking: if most important indicators of the Indian economy were better in 2004-2014, how is the GDP growth rate higher in estimates just released (7.4% per annum since 2014 and only 6.7% per annum in 2005-2014)? This is...

-IANS The former CEA says he does not think anyone disputes that demonetisation slowed growth. Demonetisation was a massive, draconian, monetary shock that accelerated economic slide to 6.8% in the seven quarters after it against the 8% recorded prior to the note ban, says former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian. Breaking his silence on the November 8, 2016 decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he says that he does not have a strongly-backed...

-The Hindu The Indian education system would be a good place to start with reforms, says the development economist Jean Drèze is possibly the world’s most famous Belgian-Indian. He has lived in India since 1979, and is an Indian citizen. As a development economist and activist, he has helped draft some startlingly pro-people legislations, such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, and the National Food Security Act, 2013....

-The Indian Express There has been only a marginal increase in the direct tax to GDP ratio after demonetisation. And the economy didn’t need to suffer for digitisation. The government did not celebrate the second anniversary of demonetisation, one of its biggest policy initiatives. It has celebrated the anniversary of all other big policies. Why the diffidence? The finance minister did come out with a statement listing the achievements of demonetisation. But his...