-The Telegraph The Indian economy grew at just 4.4 per cent in the first quarter ended June 30 - its slowest pace in four years. The grim figure deepened worries for the UPA government, which has been battling criticism over its failure to halt the slide in the rupee, cap deficits, ignite growth and slam the lid on inflation. The tepid growth had been anticipated with finance minister P. Chidambaram acknowledging a few...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Prime Minister on Friday called for a political consensus on "more difficult reforms", indicating that the government was considering a cut in fuel subsidy, which would mean higher petrol and diesel prices, and bringing in measures to curb gold imports. Making a statement in the Lok Sabha on the current economic situation, Manmohan Singh admitted that the current account deficit had gone up sharply and...

-The Hindu The move to redefine 'handloom' is in the interest of powerloom operators who will be able to corner benefits meant for weavers "Any loom, other than powerloom; and includes any hybrid loom on which, at least one process for weaving requires manual intervention or human energy for production." (The new definition of handloom proposed by Ministry of Textiles) The textile industry in India comprises three sectors - the mill, the powerloom and...

-The Hindu With the economic boom petering out, those who benefitted from it are angry with the government for the Food Security Bill because it is paying attention to the needs of the underprivileged for a change This week's received wisdom insists that the Indian economy has irretrievably collapsed because on Monday, the Lok Sabha passed the National Food Security Bill (NFSB). The Hindu Business Line headline (Aug.28, page 1) said it...

-Economic and Political Weekly The government has notified a Draft Land Reforms Policy which, on paper, has all the requisites of an earnest programme. Yet, the near total failure of earlier efforts at land reforms in India leave little room for hope that something substantial will at last be done to combat landlessness. Harsh Mander (manderharsh@gmail.com) is with the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi, and works with survivors of mass violence,...