-Scroll.in India’s first chief statistician, Pronab Sen, is now country director of the International Growth Centre, which seeks to build effective growth facilities through engagement between policymakers and researchers. In this interview to Scroll.in, he speaks on the 50 days of demonetisation, its failings, its severe impact on the poor, the loss of credibility of the Reserve Bank of India, the push to make India a cashless or less-cash economy, and...

-Frontline.in Interview with Utsa Patnaik, professor emerita of economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University. By T.K. RAJALAKSHMI THE FALLOUT of the decision of the National Democratic Alliance government to demonetise currency of higher denominations has been felt across all sections of people. There are concerns that it will lead to an overall economic slowdown given the acute shortage of currency for industrial and agricultural operations. The impact on agriculture and those dependent on agriculture...

-Scroll.in The author of a paper published by a research institute under the Ministry of Finance expands on its conclusions. The drying up of cash has thrown the lives of millions of Indians in disarray. But many facing hardship support the government’s move. In Barabanki, Uttar Pradesh, a farmer who did not have cash to buy seeds and fertilisers, said, “Now when rich people deposit money in the bank, the income tax people...

-Livemint.com Pigeon Pea variant Pusa Arhar 16 could prove a game changer for inflation-wary policymakers as it has a maturity time of 120 days down from 160-270 days of current varieties New Delhi: Anew high-yielding pulse developed by government scientists at a leading research institute could prove a game changer for inflation-wary policymakers and consumers alike. Pusa Arhar 16, a dwarf pigeon pea created by scientists at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI),...

-The Hindu Business Line Retail inflation worrisome on regional variations and transportation challenges New Delhi: Retail inflation may have eased to a 13-month low of 4.31 per cent in September, but surging prices continue to pinch the pockets of consumers in rural areas due to regional variations and transportation challenges. Though the consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation in rural areas fell to 4.96 per cent in September, against 5.87 per cent in August,...