-ThePrint.in The scholars slammed the Modi govt for ‘political influence’, pointing at the decision to withhold NSSO jobs data and to alter GDP data from the UPA era. New Delhi: A group of 108 economists and social scientists came together Thursday to protest against what they said was the Narendra Modi government’s move to revise or withhold the release of unfavourable economic data. The NDA government has been under FIRe for its...

-The Hindu Justice Joseph cites information law as government seeks to keep Rafale pricing details under wraps An all-out effort by the government to claim privilege and push the Rafale jets’ pricing details back into the dark zone was met with a stoic counter from Justice K.M. Joseph in the Supreme Court on Thursday. The government’s reasons to hush the Rafale prices ranged from national security to not upsetting a “solemn undertaking” given...

-The Indian Express Agrarian crisis is an opportunity, for the government that assumes office after elections, to enact a law giving farmers the right to sell any quantity of their produce to anybody, anywhere and at any time. The German obsession with sound currency has been conditioned by the collective memory of the Great Hyperinflation of 1922-23, just as American intolerance to double-digit unemployment and stock market crashes is traceable to...

-The Indian Express Economic data raises questions about missed opportunities and expending of political capital by NDA government. As India’s political parties switch to poll mode, economic data released in the past few days at the end of the NDA government’s term paints a far from rosy picture. Industrial growth in January slowed down to 1.7 per cent compared to the 2.6 per cent growth in factory output in December last...

-ThePrint.in Unemployment can become big and yet remain undetected. Its impact can lead to a critical vote swing. Is unemployment going to be the silent political killer in this election? This must be our FIRst question, as we limp back from heightened national security anxiety towards other regular concerns in this FIRst week after the formal announcement of the 17th Lok Sabha elections. Every available evidence points to this possibility. But as...