-Down to Earth Farmers are in distress owing to low farm prices, poor logistics for transport and government-assured purchases The concept of ‘the more, the merrier’ doesn’t apply to farm produce and farmers’ state as much as the government thinks. Increasing production can’t be directly translated into better financial situation of farmers. According to the agriculture ministry latest estimates, in 2017-18, the total horticulture production of the country was 307.2 million tonnes, which...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Congress on Monday asserted that boastful claims and sermons on the economy after the completion of four years of the Narendra Modi government were of little value as the lives of ordinary people had worsened because of reckless decisions and administrative incompetence at a time when the global economy was looking up. Former finance minister P. Chidambaram said at a news conference: "The RBI's Consumer Confidence Survey...

-PTI Currency with the public has reached a record high level of over Rs 18.5 lakh crore, more than double from a low of about Rs 7.8 lakh crore it had hit post-demonetisation decision in late 2016, as per RBI data. At the same time, the total currency put in circulation by the Reserve Bank has also more than doubled to over Rs 19.3 lakh crore -- from a low of about...

-Firstpost.com The labour ministry has put the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) on the back burner as it wants to transition to computing payroll data based on Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) subscriptions, based on data from the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), according to this report in The Economic Times. Of course, the EPFO-based jobs data gives one a better picture about the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Labour ministry’s quarterly employment survey (QES), which provides for the number of jobs created in eight sectors that account for over 80% of the country’s total organised workforce, has been put on the backburner owing to the more recent payroll data which has projected much higher number of jobs created in the organised sector than the labour bureau survey shows. According to the government’s first-ever estimate of...