-DNA India India is frittering away gains of the Green Revolution and fast turning into a net food Importer In 2015-16, India Imported Rs 1,402,680,000,000 or 1.40 lakh crore worth of agricultural commodities. This was more than three times the annual budgetary allocation for domestic agriculture. Well, if you think the increasing reliance on food Imports in one year — 2015-16 — is merely an aberration, hold your breath. According to commodity...

-The Times of India Former economic affairs secretary Shaktikanta Das , who played a key role during the demonetisation drive, spoke to TOI's Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta, four months after retiring from service in May. He says he does not agree with the criticism that implementation of demonetisation had serious shortcomings. Excerpts: * What is your assessment on the state of the economy? The macroeconomic parameters, except the growth figures which are down...

-NetworkIdeas.org A slew of numbers released recently point to rather peculiar and contrary trends in India’s balance of payments. Exports have revived but the trade and current account deficits widen, pointing to an excess of foreign exchange expenditure relative to earnings. While the widening current account deficit points to a weakening balance of payments position, foreign exchange reserves are at record levels. The foreign exchange reserve increase is funded largely by capital...

-Scroll.in It is hard to understand why the Indian government continues to favour palm oil Imports over homegrown edible oils in Gujarat and elsewhere. Dhirubhai is in dire straits. He can no longer recover his investments on the groundnuts he grows on three acres of land along the Junagadh-Verawal road in Gujarat. In a good year, he grows 100 kilos of groundnuts – or peanuts – for every Rs 4,000 he invests....

-BBC Economist Jean Dreze's new book makes an increasingly necessary argument that creating a morally good, progressive society is as Important as improving traditional development indexes, writes Nilanjana S Roy. The jhola, a sturdy, often exuberantly decorated cloth sling bag, can be spotted all across India. Over time, this precursor to the backpack and the man bag became the accessory of choice for a varied set of Indians, from sadhus (holy men)...