-Business Standard R Nagaraj, professor at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), had disputed the Central Statistics Office (CSO) methodology on non-financial private corporate sector, which is a segment in the new GDP data. His criticism was mainly on the ground that CSO altered the methodology in 2015 from what was agreed on by a sub-committee, in which Nagaraj was a non-official member, in 2014. CSO gave a rejoinder...

-Economic and Political Weekly Ashish Bose coined the acronym BIMARU in the early 1980s to describe the backwardness of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh relative to the best-performing states in terms of demographic indicators. This article extends Bose's analysis to recent years to ascertain if the proposition is still valid. To retain the integrity of the original exercise, the same indicators examined by Bose have been analysed, as far...

A recent press release from the Ministry of Agriculture shows that the area affected by recent rains and hailstorms is estimated to be 189.81 lakh hectares (on 24 April 2015), which is nearly double the total area affected that was earlier estimated on 16 April 2015. (See the link below). Experts argue that such extreme weather events may severely damage food economy of the nation, apart from breaking the spirit...

-Livemint.com While economists disagree on the extent of rigidity in India’s labour regime, there is a broad consensus on the need to simplify labour laws After showing a sense of urgency initially, the Modi government seemed to have put labour law reforms on the backburner in between. Now, things are simmering once again as the government contemplates integrating three laws—the Trade Unions Act, the Industrial Disputes Act and the Industrial Employment...

-Business Standard As critics find fault in the new gross domestic product (GDP) data, National Statistical Commission (NSC) Chairman Pronab Sen, heading a committee to review the methodology of the new series, tells Indivjal Dhasmana much of the criticism is due to the lack of information about the methodology and sourcing of the new data. Edited excerpts:   NSC has appointed a committee under you to review the new GDP data. Has it...