-The Indian Express Exploring the role of the black economy in political finance and how it subverts democracy. Book: Costs of Democracy: Political Finance in India Editors: Devesh Kapur & Milan Vaishnav Publisher: Oxford University Press Page: 311   price: Rs 750 Money in politics is an issue of great concern for the Indian polity. Most believe it undermines democracy in India so that what formally looks like a great democracy turns out to be just...

-Livemint.com According to govt data, the output of foodgrains is 11.9 million tonnes higher than the average production of 129.7 million tonnes between 2012-17 New Delhi: India’s foodgrain production during the rain-fed kharif season is estimated at a record 141.6 million tonnes in 2018-19, raising chances that wholesale crop prices will continue to hover low ahead of crucial elections in states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The first advance estimate of crop...

-The Indian Express It is important to evaluate the consequences of the Centre’s agriculture policy. With elections around the corner, it’s too late for a course correction of the farm sector, but it’s an opportune time to document the unintended consequences of half-baked policies for the next five years. Otherwise, the momentum of existing policies will continue to feed rural economic misery. Agriculture GDP growth plummeted just as India’s agricultural trade surplus,...

-The Indian Express But it may give a boost for S-SMS/Happy Seeder technology adoption to prevent paddy straw burning Jalandhar: Thakur Dyal Singh has never in the past raised the rates for operation of his combine harvester in farmers’ fields by more than Rs 100 per acre. Till around 2012-13, he was charging Rs 800-1,000 for harvesting, threshing and cleaning their paddy or wheat crop from one acre using his machine. In...

-National Herald Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics, in an interview to Tathagata Bhattacharya says the government has failed on many counts At the end of the day, it is growth and employment generation via new investment that is key to long-term economic progress. Various welfare schemes are a way of providing a social safety net to the poor in the short-run. It is performance along these two...