-Livemint.com Inflation for services and a few discretionary items has been higher in rural areas compared to urban centres When income is stagnant, a logical outcome could be curtailing expenditure. But rural India seems to be fine with paying higher prices for services that range from education to matinee shows. The chart above shows inflation for services and a few discretionary items has been higher in rural areas compared to urban centres. It...

-Financial Express For sustainable growth, Rural India’s squeezing purchasing power needs immediate attention New Delhi: The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) unanimous call for a 25-basis-point rate hike after four years was primarily driven by the strengthening Core Inflation as well as the rising household inflationary expectations. Since the April Monetary Policy Committee meeting, there have been some significant macro developments, mainly on four counts. First, the global crude oil prices have risen...

-Livemint.com Despite claims of an economic recovery, rural wage growth of non-agricultural labourers continued to be in negative territory for the fourth month in a row Data released by the Central Statistics Office last month suggested a recovery in economic growth during the fourth quarter of 2017-18, with the economy expanding by 7.7% compared to that in the first quarter, when growth was at its lowest at 5.7%. This has given some...

-The Indian Express The focus in the Union Budget on tertiary healthcare at the cost of primary and secondary healthcare is flawed. A publicly-financed health insurance scheme is no substitute If the past three Union budgets were any indication, this budget’s approach to the health sector should not have surprised anyone. The prescription in the National Health Policy (NHP) 2017 to increase the government’s (Centre and the states together) health expenditure from the...

-News18.com The first part of the report calls out the Modi government for reneging on key promises made to farmers ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. New Delhi: Ahead of the Union Budget 2018-19, the Yogendra Yadav-led Swaraj Abhiyan on Tuesday released a 31-page report titled ‘Kisan Green Paper 2018’. The subtitle of the report reads ‘4 years, 4 budgets: What has this Central Government delivered? The report slams the...