-The Hindu Business Line Suppressing data that point to low growth, rising joblessness and poverty impedes effective policymaking in a crisis Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget speech, said “data is the new oil” and stressed on the credibility of data to combat the difficulties in real-time monitoring of the Indian economy. She even proposed building data centre parks throughout the country so that skilful incorporation of data in every step...

-The Indian Express Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s book helps frame the problem: Tilt in favour of consumer in food policy reduces incentives for farmers, makes it difficult to unlock resources for growth. Last month, Montek Singh Ahluwalia’s book, Backstage: The Story Behind India’s High Growth Years, was released. It is an account of India’s economic reform journey— a process in which Montek was an insider for about 30 years. Besides some very interesting...

-The Financial Express Focussing on women’s education, Access to sanitation & potable water, diet rich in proteinaceous foods and biofortification of grains can curb malnutrition President Donald Trump applauded India’s achievements in his address at the crowded Motera stadium. These ranged from religious freedom to reducing poverty to the giant emerging economy. This should have made every Indian feel proud, except that only in the next three days, riots in Delhi made...

-The New Indian Express The authors conclude that the record pace of poverty reduction was due to high growth rate. Only 84 million (8.4 crore) Indians are poor as on 2017 down from 270 million in 2011, claims a new study. It also states that poverty, as per the Tendulkar Poverty line, reduced from 14.9 per cent in 2011 to 7.0 per cent in 2017 -- the fastest pace the country has seen...

-India Water Portal How can India change the game on groundwater management to deal with its overexploited aquifers?. After independence, India was largely food insecure but post Green Revolution around the 1970s, foodgrain production increased manifold consequently reducing food insecurity and poverty in the country, in spite of rapid population growth. Its ability to achieve targeted results was largely dependent on the explosion of groundwater abstraction mechanisms like tubewells. Groundwater development continued...