-Livemint.com The concerns about the downsides of these schemes are overblown, and they could go some way in alleviating rural woes Since the Union Budget 2018-19, there has been a great deal of discussion in the public domain regarding the health of the rural sector. We believe that the rural sector needs some policy intervention, be it price support or income support. As a case in point, the agri gross domestic product...

-The Indian Express We have, indeed, entered a regime of “permanent surpluses” in most crops — a reality our policymakers are unable to grasp, stuck as they are in the era of the Essential Commodities Act. If there is one thing that has changed in Indian agriculture in recent times, it is supply response — the ability of farmers to increase production when prices go up. Traditionally, the supply curve in most...

-Newsclick.in Over the past three years, prices of farm produce have gone down, pushing farmers into deeper crisis but the govt. has no solution. It is perhaps a symbol of our times, and this govt.’s alienation from the people, that it is totally unconcerned about crashing farm produce prices even though the Prime Minister and his colleagues go on harping on their commitment to double farmers’ incomes. Here is what has happened...

-The Indian Express The country had recorded GDP growth of 7.1 per cent in the previous financial year (2016-17). Growth is projected to rebound to 7.5 per cent this year. Boosted by an uptick in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and a good rabi harvest, India’s real gross domestic product (GDP) surged to a seven-quarter high of 7.7 per cent in January-March, the last quarter of the 2017-18 financial year. The rise...

The country’s agrarian sector in the last financial year expanded at almost half the rate at which it grew in 2016-17, shows the recently released provisional estimates by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). As compared to a growth rate of 6.3 percent witnessed in 2016-17, the growth rate in real Gross Value Added (GVA) by the agrarian sector (i.e., increase in agricultural GVA after neutralizing the effect of price inflation)...