-Newsclick.in Rather than spending more, government expenditure by July 2019 is less than what it was last year as share of annual budget, with key public welfare related ministries cutting most. India is facing an unprecedented slowdown of the economy with GDP growth slumping to 5% in the June quarter, agriculture growing by only 2% and manufacturing by a mere 0.6%. Private consumption expenditure – spending by families on consumption – has...

Among the measures announced by the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman on 23rd August, 2019 to arrest economic downturn, the following are noteworthy: * Allow Bharat Stage IV (BS-IV) vehicles (which are purchased till 31st March, 2020) to remain operational for the entire period of registration; * Government shall lift the ban on purchase of new vehicles for replacing all old vehicles by its various departments; *...

In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-Scroll.in Democracy requires a national character that isn’t grounded in ignorance and government policy that is not a sophisticated version of Whatsapp. It is now clear – 1,020 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told India he was wiping out 85% of its currency, by value – that demonetisation was not just a failure but a spectacularly misconceived move. That its destructive effects took at least 100 lives in its immediate aftermath,...

-The Times of India SHIMLA/ MANALI/ UTTARKASHI: At least 31 people were killed, 10 were missing and hundreds of tourists left stranded as another day of torrential rains in the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand triggered flash floods, landslides and uprooting of trees on Sunday. Himachal Pradesh received its highest ever single-day rainfall, recording an average of 102.5mm on Sunday, 1,065% higher than normal. Around 670 Roads across the state,...