-TheWire.in The national auditor believes that such methods allow the Centre to understate the true fiscal and revenue deficits in a given year. New Delhi: India’s national auditor has raised red flags over the Narendra Modi government’s propensity to borrow funds using “off-budget” methods, a practice that allows it to finance capital and revenue spending while maintaining deficit targets. The criticism comes from an audit report tabled in parliament on Tuesday, but is...

-The Economic Times The world is no stranger to farm debt crises like the one India is seeing today. Back in the 1980s, the Canadian parliament enacted a law to stop foreclosures on farm debt, after prices collapsed and interest rates jumped to as high as 24%. The law was in force for a dozen-odd years. It identified insolvent farmers, facilitated agreements between the borrowers and lenders, and helped some farmers move...

-Livemint.com Unless the convoluted arithmetic behind fiscal deficit gets as much attention as headline fiscal deficit number, creative accounting practices will go on Mumbai: The Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has been lauded for its ability to rein in the headline fiscal deficit over the past few years, which has arguably helped tame inflation. However, with reverses in key assembly elections earlier this month and Lok Sabha elections to be...

-Livemint.com With barely a few months to go for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the question across political party lines is: what can really be done now, and quickly? New Delhi: When residents gather around the fire on foggy winter evenings in Rampura, a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly district, the conversation often veers toward the declining fortunes in agriculture. Take 27-year-old Pushpendra Singh, who completed his master’s degree in commerce in 2016,...

-PTI NEW DELHI: Joining the debate on farm loan waivers, government think-tank Niti Aayog on Wednesday said such a move helps only a fraction of farmers and is no solution to mitigate agrarian distress. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has been pressing the government on the issue, saying he will not let Prime Minister Narendra Modi sleep until a loan waiver is given to all farmers. "Farm loan waiver is not a solution...