-The Indian Express Union government must address structural issues in agricultural policy, allow states greater autonomy. Farmers from across the country are out on Delhi’s streets agitating just as the deliberations for the 2018 budget are beginning and it’s time to seek solutions to the structural issues that plague the system. The “one-size-fits-all” policy created for the farm sector is self-destructive in design and programmes meant to double farmer incomes are collapsing. The...

-The Indian Express First-ever comprehensive study pegs produce trade losses in mandis from demonetisation at 7-15%. Demonetisation led to the value of farm produce traded in mandis across India collapse by nearly 15 per cent within a week of the decision, with these losses averaging 7 per cent even at the end of 90 days, according to a just-published Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) working paper. The study, which crunches data...

-PTI WPI-based inflation in September had been the highest since April's 3.85% New Delhi: Inflation at the wholesale level rose to six-month high of 3.59 per cent in October as the prices of food articles, led by onions and vegetables, rose sharply. Inflation, based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), was 2.60 per cent in September. In October last year, it was 1.27 per cent. Last month's inflation was the highest since April, when it...

-The Economic Times Consumer inflation touched a seven-month high in October denting hopes of rate cut when the Reserve Bank of India reviews the monetary policy next month. Retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI) rose to 3.58% in October from 3.28% in September, data released by the government showed. “While we expect the RBI’s March 2018 projection to be revised down a notch, but October’s CPI and the likelihood...

-The Hindu Business Line The dilution of government intervention in the form of minimum support prices, procurement and public distribution is undermining agricultural production in the country Farmer movements and farm loan waivers in different States have driven home the fact that the viability of agriculture is under challenge. This is surprising, since the comprehensive framework for reviving agricultural production, introduced in response to the agricultural crisis in mid-1960s, is in principle...