-Firstpost.com If one purely compare the January-March quarter GDP growth of fiscal year 2017 and fiscal year 2016, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s prediction that demonetisation will shave off 2 percentage points of India’s GDP has come true. In the January-March quarter of FY16, GDP grew by 9 percent, which has come down to 6.1 percent in the corresponding quarter this year— a near 3 percentage point difference. Even the full...

-TheWire.in Farmers are once again wondering which crop will fetch them guaranteed good returns. Nagpur: What do you grow on your farm in the coming season that will fetch you good returns? This is a question millions of peasant farmers, particularly those with small holdings and no protective irrigation, are likely to ask themselves this month, possibly with no answers. They’ll go back to what they have been growing on their fields thus far,...

-The Indian Express Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, India’s exports of agricultural commodities have dipped from $43.2 billion to $33.8 billion, even as imports have climbed from $15.5 billion to $25.6 billion Falling exports and rising imports — this has been the story of the country’s agricultural trade over the last three years, notwithstanding the Narendra Modi government’s ambitious Make in India initiative. Between 2013-14 and 2016-17, India’s exports of agricultural commodities have dipped...

-TheWire.in Without functioning hand pumps or any government intervention, villagers are being forced to drink contaminated water, exposing them to skin infections and diseases. Bundelkhand: Bundelkhand region, which is spread over 13 districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, has often been in the news due to acute drinking water shortage. As the heat wave intensified and the water crisis peaked in many parts of the region, I spent three days  &NDAsh;...

-The Hindu Greater data availability, especially on labour markets, needed to better gauge social impact of such policies The World Bank has said the social impact of demonetisation may have been greater as the informal economy was likely to have been hit especially hard. However, the Bank said the impact of demonetisation on the informal economy was difficult to measure and greater data availability, especially on labour markets, is needed to...