-Economic and Political Weekly A categorical distinction is facing rough weather--that between urban and rural. If we take just agriculture, there is so much of the outside world that comes in not just as external markets but as external inputs. Further, many of our villages barely qualify as rural if we were to take occupation alone. So the earlier line that separated the farmer from the worker in towns is slowly...

-PTI Kolkata: With child labour decreasing at a dismal rate of only 2.2 per cent per year, it would take more than a century to end the menace, a report said on Thursday. An analysis of census data by non-governmental organisation CRY (Child Rights and You) has revealed that child labour has been decreasing at a mere 2.2 per cent per year over the last decade, contrary to popular perception of its...

-The Financial Express The NITI Aayog must firm up a concrete plan involving the states to deal with monsoon deficiency to avoid all-round confusion. This is an old and oft-repeated story in the media, but worth mentioning here for the readers who have missed it. It goes like this. During the period of erstwhile Planning Commission, one of the officials in-charge of projecting agricultural growth found out an innovative way to do...

-Livemint.com In summary, it is hard to escape the macroeconomic consequences of an agriculture shock, notwithstanding fluctuation-smoothing strategies The monsoon forecast, close on the heels of the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy review, has turned all eyes to the farm sector. If the actual out-turn matches the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD) predictions — seasonal rainfall at 88% of the long-period average (LPA) for 2015 — it would be on...

-The Hindu Business Line A short delay does not impact sowing as there is a sufficient window The onset of monsoon over Kerala has been less than reassuring. Not only is it late by five days compared with the normal date of June 1, but it has also failed to arrive in the eight-day window set around the median of May 30. The conspicuous lack of flourish has led many to doubt...