-The Indian Express Subramanian’s suggestions come days ahead of the Budget to be presented on February 1. Incidentally, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said his party will bring Minimum Income Guarantee for every poor person if voted to power. New Delhi: In order to tackle agrarian distress effectively, the Central government and the states should launch a basic income scheme which guarantees minimum cash transfers to all except the well-off in rural...

-National Herald Well-known Belgian-Indian economist Jean Drèze, reflects on the times we live in this animated conversation with Ujjawal Krishnam Jean Drèze, the Belgian-Indian economist, true to his reputation, laces humour and an acerbic wit to reflect on the times we live in. Self deprecating, he brushes aside the question how he juggles between his roles as economist, activist and teacher. He wonders at the multi-tasking ability of Indian women instead. Nor...

-The Hindu The solution lies in better schemes that ensure universal coverage for small, marginal and medium-sized farmers To do or not to do? According to reports, the Central government is discussing a scheme to waive outstanding farm loans in the aftermath of widespread farmers’ protests between March and December 2018 . Till now, at least 11 States have announced schemes to waive outstanding farm loans: Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil...

-The Indian Express Data collated from the Reserve Bank of India over the last five years shows that growth in credit outstanding for the priority sector has traditionally been rising at a much faster rate than the growth in gross bank credit An uptick in the economy is clear from the improvement in gross bank credit availability but unlike in the past, lending to the priority sector continues to trail, posting single-digit...

-The Indian Express Demonetisation, coupled with daily limits on cash transactions and fear of being tracked by revenue authorities post the Goods and Services Tax regime, have made traders less inclined to purchasing and stocking up produce during the harvest season. The defining feature of Indian agriculture in the last five years — much of it under the Narendra Modi government’s tenure — has been low prices for farm produce. The accompanying...