-The Business Standard Cautious optimism about the revival of the monsoon  A progressive improvement in the monsoon, after a dismal June that saw rainfall deficient by over 30 per cent, has eased some worries over kharif crop production. Since then the rainfall deficit has been halved to 15 per cent, dispelling fears of a situation as bad as in 2009, when severe drought lowered foodgrain production by seven per cent. In addition,...

-The Business Standard Beni Prasad Verma is wrong. Food inflation hurts more than 70% of Indian farmers  Poor Beni Prasad Verma! In Lucknow on Monday, Mr Verma, who is the Union minister for steel, spoke not on steel, but on inflation — and kicked up a row that his government, already under stress, could have easily done without. Mr Verma argued that higher prices for agricultural goods meant more gains for India’s...

-The Telegraph One Singh has told the Congress what another Singh probably wants to: create a political environment conducive for reducing subsidies. Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has told Congress MPs that subsidy cuts are essential if India has to preserve its growth momentum — a statement more in line with the known views of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh than the populist line preferred by many Congress leaders. Many Congress MPs,...

-PTI Employees of public sector banks have gone on two-day nationwide strike today opposing banking sector reforms and outsourcing of non-core activities, affecting operations. Several private sector banks, foreign banks and ATMs, however, continued to operate normally. The strike call was given by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions of employees and officers of PSU banks. They are protesting against banking sector reforms and unilateral implementation of...

-The Economic Times A change in the national accounts, slated to take place sometime in the next two years, will show that a resurgent farm sector is now the second biggest contributor to the economy, displacing manufacturing and financial services. The unexpected reversal is not just a statistical artefact. Instead it is an outcome of a change in the terms of trade, the price of agricultural produce compared to industrial output since...