-The Hindu The distinct characteristics of India’s agriculture require that a reformed state must ensure farmer, consumer welfare For at least four decades now, economic policy making globally has dogmatically adhered to the notion that a progressively reduced role of the state would automatically deliver greater economic growth and welfare to the people. Since reform, by definition, is taken to mean only one thing, sector after sector is compulsively sought to be...

-Economic and Political Weekly This article tries to assess how KN Raj would have weighed in on some of the major contemporary issues like the trade policy, farm crisis and reprivatisation of public sector banks on the basis of his many writings. It also highlights his views on the fundamental orientation that an academic discipline like economics needs to have for contemporary social relevance. Please click here to access the full article. ...

-Scroll.in Going against conventional wisdom, the Indian middle class is not a source of liberalism. A profound contradiction lies at the heart of contemporary India’s political economy. On the one hand, it embraces economic liberalism. In September 2020, it legislated laws aimed at liberalising agriculture from state-guaranteed protections. The recent budget, passed in February, was high on promises of accelerating divestment of public sector undertakings. On the other hand, however, this enthusiasm...

-The Telegraph A day later, Congress and TMC, which has the chairmanship of the committee, said it was a misrepresentation and evidence of the BJP’s “dirty tricks department in action ” New Delhi: Opposition parties were left scrambling for an explanation after a parliamentary panel in which they had representation green-signalled one of the three contentious farm laws in a report tabled in Parliament on Friday. In the report tabled in the Lok...

-The Indian Express The stated position of most of these parties is against all three laws; the Congress wants them repealed. The Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, which has members from 13 parties including BJP, Congress, TMC, AAP, NCP and Shiv Sena, has asked the government to implement the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 in “letter and spirit.” The Act is one of the three contentious farm laws against...