-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...

-The Hindu The former Chief Election Commissioner on the EVM controversy, why the Supreme Court’s verdict on criminals in politics is a missed opportunity, and electoral bonds The debate on the reliability of electronic voting machines (EVMs) refuses to settle, with political parties continuing to voice their concerns about malfunctioning machines. Former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi explains how EVMs work, why he is disappointed with the Supreme Court for refusing to...

-The Indian Express There has been only a marginal increase in the direct tax to GDP ratio after demonetisation. And the economy didn’t need to suffer for digitisation. The government did not celebrate the second anniversary of demonetisation, one of its biggest policy initiatives. It has celebrated the anniversary of all other big policies. Why the diffidence? The finance minister did come out with a statement listing the achievements of demonetisation. But his...

-MirrorNowNews.com The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs on Tuesday stalled a parliamentary report which slammed demonetisation. The report mentioned that demonetisation led to a drop of one per cent in the country's GDP. New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs on Tuesday stalled the note ban report which slammed the incumbent government's decision of demonetising Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes with effect from November 8, 2016. The report mentioned...

-Hindustan Times Election Commission of India (ECI) is outgunned when it comes to confronting those who circumvent existing campaign finance rules and lacks power to sanction candidates. It is a truism to note that political finance sits at the heart of corruption in modern India. While politicians publicly lament the status quo, they privately profit from the current system. Therefore, the fact that the Narendra Modi government has made reforming political finance...