-Hindustan Times With petroleum, electricity, alcohol and other products kept out of the purview of GST, the gains to GDP will not accrue in the same proportion as projected, he says. Claims that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will boost the country’s economic growth by 1.5 percentage points are “rubbish”, NITI Aayog member and economist Bibek Debroy said, hours before its roll out on midnight Friday. Debroy’s remarks contrast with finance minister...

-The World Bank India has among the lowest female labor force participation rates (LFPRs) in the world. In particular, low female LFPR is a drag on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth and an obstacle towards reaching a higher growth path. Women are also an untapped source of managerial and entrepreneurial skills. By excluding women, the pool of such talent becomes shallower and growth suffers. If the overall lack of jobs, especially...

-The Telegraph The Narendra Modi government's record in tacitly supporting the actions of a bunch of vigilante thugs who have been terrorizing the country, especially the Muslims and the Dalits, in the guise of gau rakshaks, or opponents of love jihad, or 'nationalists', has been so outrageous that it has grabbed all the critical attention. In the process, the government's abysmal failures in other spheres have gone virtually unnoticed. One such...

-Livemint.com The earnings of an average farm household in Madhya Pradesh remains among the lowest India, although farmers have gained from rapid agricultural growth Mumbai: Protests by farmers across India amid bumper harvests have surprised many. The biggest source of surprise has been one of the hotspots of the protests, Madhya Pradesh (MP), a state that has posted record agricultural growth over the past several years. A Mint analysis shows that although farmers...

-Firstpost.com After Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh has now been rocked by farmer unrest. At least six farmers were killed and eight others were critically injured on Tuesday when the police resorted to firing to subdue the protesting farmers in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. In both Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the farmers’ demands are almost similar: they want complete farm loan waiver as a short-term palliative and secondly, institutionalised mechanism for getting better prices...