-The Indian Express Bihar’s female literacy rate, at 53.33 per cent as per the 2011 Census, is the second lowest after Rajasthan’s 52.66 per cent. Did women help win this election for the Nitish Kumar-led Grand Alliance? While that awaits an analysis, the fact is more women cast their votes in this assembly election than ever before in Bihar’s history. And this, despite the state’s dismal record when it comes to...

-Economic and Political Weekly The common and strongly-held view in India is that balanced fertiliser use requires three major plant nutrients, namely, nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, to be used in the ratio of 4:2:1, and any deviation in fertiliser use from this norm would constrain growth in crop productivity. This officially-accepted perception, a product of 1950s experiments, has led to wrong policies on fertilisers. Estimating actual and normative quantity of N,...

The low rate of inflation of 3.88 percent in Consumer Food Price Index during September, 2015 actually hides the high prices at which various pulses (dal) are available in kirana / retail shops across India. In terms of Consumer Price Index (combined), monthly rate of inflation in pulses and products during September 2015 (over September last year) stood at 29.76 percent as compared to the overall monthly retail inflation of...

-The Indian Express The central message of Angus Deaton’s work: Becoming richer is not necessarily the same thing as becoming better-off. In the preface to his magisterial 2013 book The Great Escape, Angus Deaton thanks his teachers. “Richard Stone was perhaps my most profound influence,” Deaton writes, “from him I learned about measurement — how little we can say without it and how important it is to get it right.” Important, indeed....

-The Hindu Business Line Calls for more formalisation of work, greater female participation New Delhi: Creative ‘Made in India’ anti-poverty policies, such as MGNREGA (rural job guarantee scheme) and PMGSY (rural road scheme), that helped stabilise and raise household incomes, continue to inspire the world, said a senior ILO official, adding that economic growth by itself is not enough to tackle growing income inequalities and create quality jobs. “The rising tide (of growth)...