-The Hindu In contrast to its pronouncements, the government’s own data suggest the economy is in a deep hole Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address, spoke triumphantly about how demonetisation drove ?3 lakh crore of unaccounted money into the banking system. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is still counting old notes, and unaccounted money cases are ongoing. Thus, this number is at best a guesstimate, and cannot be...
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MS Swaminathan, father of India's Green Revolution, interviewed by Vidya Venkat (The Hindu)
-The Hindu Fifty years since the Green Revolution, the architect of the reform highlights the crisis facing Indian agriculture today It is 11 years since agronomist M.S. Swaminathan handed over his recommendations for improving the state of agriculture in India to the former United Progressive Alliance government, at the height of the Vidarbha farmer suicides crisis, but they are still to be implemented. To address the agrarian crisis and farmers’ unrest across...
More »Are farmer movements in India changing course? -Sayantan Bera
-Livemint.com Unlike the dhoti-clad, topi-wearing quintessential ‘kisan’, the new Indian farmer is vocal and tech-savvy New Delhi: In the winter of 1988 when the feisty farmer leader from Uttar Pradesh, Mahendra Singh Tikait, laid siege to Delhi with thousands of cultivators and their cattle literally creating a mess of the boat club lawns, agriculture’s share in India’s gross domestic product (GDP) was about 30%. About three decades later, the farm sector’s share in...
More »Farm crisis: Landless may be better off, but landed are worse off; here is what you should know of rural distress puzzle -Pranjul Bhandari
-The Financial Express The state of India’s rural economy is puzzling. There is enough evidence to support both opposing statements: one, that the rural economy has improved, and two, that the rural economy is in the doldrums. Some macro indicators have improved, though. The rural unemployment rate has been falling, while rural wages have been rising, particularly on a real basis. Alongside, indicators such as two-wheeler sales and consumer non-durables production...
More »Retail inflation dips to record low in June, IIP slows in May
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Retail inflation dipped to a record low in June on the back of sliding food prices, while industrial output growth slowed in May as manufacturing remained sluggish, mounting pressure on the RBI to cut interest rates when it reviews monetary policy on August 2. Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday showed retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), rose...
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