-The Hindu The next few quarters call for focus on consumption, private investment, agriculture and exports There was a collective sigh of relief when the second quarter GDP data were released officially by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The government folks were relieved that a declining trend of four consecutive quarters of growth had finally been reversed. The forecasters and economists were relieved that the announced data had mostly conformed to their expectations....

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The highlight of the gross domestic product (GDP) data for July-September quarter is the overall growth rate of 6.3 per cent, the first time pace of economic growth has increased in six quarters. It suggests that the marked slide we witnessed over the last year has finally stopped. However, a look at the disaggregated data shows that the economy is still struggling. A comparison of the...

-Newsclick.in Agricultural output is stagnating, farmers’ debt and suicides are rising, 35% cultivators have abandoned farming – gujarat’s development model has betrayed farmers Here are some facts about the state of agriculture in Gujarat, often described by BJP as the crucible for ‘model’ governance and development:     Between 2001 and 2011, the number of cultivators in Gujarat fell by 355,181, the bulk of which was marginal cultivators (those who cultivate only up to...

-Livemint.com Farm economist and NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand on the urgency of agricultural market reforms to meet the target of doubling farm incomes by 2022 New Delhi: Apart from staging protests in Delhi, farmers must make themselves heard in state capitals as well to resolve issues outside the central government’s control, farm economist and NITI Aayog member Ramesh Chand said. In an interview, he spoke of the urgency of agricultural market...

-Down to Earth Jean Dreze on why he prefers a solidarity society, rather than a welfare state * Are you actually an advocate of the welfare state? Ideally, I would prefer to think in terms of a solidarity society rather than welfare state, for two reasons. First, private non-profit institutions can play a very useful role in the social sector. In many countries, some of the best schools and health centres are run...