-TheCitizen.in NEW DELHI: So many lies are being spread by the government which is currently busy wrecking the Indian economy in the manner of a bull in a china shop; so many spurious economic arguments are being trotted out by it, that one has to be extremely vigilant not to be swept away by this tide of unreason. In the current article, and the two subsequent ones to follow, I propose to...

-CounterCurrents.org While much has been written and said about the demonetisation move by the government, the question of its legality has received scant attention. The issue however is not the desirability or the economic viability of the decision and the undoubted public and national interest it serves. The goal of eliminating black money from circulation is undoubtedly in public interest. While I unambiguously support the policy of removing black—untaxed—money from the...

-The Economic Times Farmers accustomed to decades of government policy failure are willing to bear the pain caused by the government’s decision to recall Rs 500 & 1000 bills, but engineering a systematic failure of the rural cooperative banking sector would be an unpardonable desecration. Earlier rural bank branches were given a step motherly treatment: Rural cooperative bank branches were not replenished with lower denomination currency, while the newer higher denomination notes...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: About 57.57 per cent of India's urban population of 300 million has no source of income, socio-economic data released by the government last week suggests, prompting at least one analyst to wonder if this was the reason people were willing to queue up for the whole day to exchange cash. Thirty-seven per cent are engaged in work ranging from begging to government jobs, earning some income. About 5.90...

-The Indian Express These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’ — enjoy privileged access to formal credit networks. In her insightful study of the working of agricultural markets in West Bengal, British development studies scholar Barbara Harris-White has documented in detail how trade in farm produce is controlled through a web of rural and semi-urban agro commercial enterprises. These enterprises — whom she broadly categorises as ‘rural commercial capital’...