-Livemint.com India’s Kharif foodgrain production is estimated at 135 million tonnes in 2016-17, 9% higher than the year before New Delhi: Boosted by a normal monsoon, India’s rain-fed Kharif harvest will be the highest ever in history, show first advance estimates of crop production released by the agriculture ministry on Thursday. India’s Kharif foodgrain production is estimated at 135 million tonnes in 2016-17, 9% higher than the year before, when a crippling drought...

-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. Agriculture subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...

-Livemint.com Contrary to popular perception, it’s not because of good luck or necessarily a large growth sacrifice; policymakers deserve more credit than they get One of the most visible macroeconomic successes in India over the last three years has been the sustained moderation of headline consumer price index (CPI) inflation. CPI (industrial workers) averaged 9.5% for six years between 2007 and 2013. For the last 30 months, however, it has averaged...

-The Indian Express A decade after ‘Prakash Singh’ judgement, police reform remains undone. Anniversaries and birthdays are joyous occasions. The 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Prakash Singh case should be one of them — a reason to look back with pride at the court’s seven directions in its September 22, 2006, verdict aimed at propelling police reform. The judgement was intended — but perhaps not expected — to...

-Livemint.com According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry, less than a fifth of targeted farmers have received soil health cards New Delhi: The government’s flagship scheme to correct the imbalance in fertiliser use and reduce costs of cultivation by providing all farmers with a soil health card is moving at a slow pace as states drag their feet. According to a background note prepared by the agriculture ministry and...