-The Hindu It is critical that the Supreme Court immediately adjudicates on the electoral bonds scheme The Election Commission of India has announced dates for elections to five Legislative Assemblies. It is a matter of grave concern that the petition challenging the electoral bonds scheme, which deals with the vexed issue of election funding, continues to languish in the Supreme Court. The delay in adjudicating on the case filed in September 2017...

-The Telegraph HINTERLAND: Our structural problem — small and marginal rain-fed sustenance farms, over 80 per cent of India’s agriculture sector — remains unaddressed Let’s understand the chronology: before the 2014 general elections, Narendra Modi promised farmers that he would comply with the Swaminathan Commission formula to arrive at a minimum support price for farm produce: a 50 per cent profit over the production cost. Post elections, he reneged on the promise...

-The Telegraph ‘Farmers at mercy of corporates, food security threatened’ Eminent economist, professor emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University and activist Prabhat Patnaik traces the downward and dangerous slide of the Indian economy, from the demonetisation to the new farm bills. * The first onslaught was in the form of the demonetisation. While Amartya Sen termed this step “despotic”, Narendra Modi gushed that there would be no black money after the demonetisation. In the...

-Newsclick.in The PM’s claim that greater cash use is associated with less transparency and hence a larger black economy is baseless, as is his assertion that cash use in India has fallen. On the fourth anniversary of demonetisation (November 8), Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed that it succeeded in curbing black money. He probably believes he can get away with making this claim because of the passage of time. But most...

-IndiaToday.in NCRB data show fake notes of Rs 2,000 entered the market days after PM Narendra Modi's demonetisation announcement. Today they are the biggest contributors to the value of seized counterfeit currency in India. "In a country's history, there come moments when every person feels he too should be part of that moment, that he too should make his contribution to the country's progress. Such moments come but rarely," said Prime Minister...