-The Indian Express The FM’s other ideas for agriculture, especially on Zero Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF), which she repeated this year, need to be tested before it becomes a national policy. In her Budget speech, Nirmala Sitharaman spelled out sixteen measures to reboot agriculture and re-affirmed the Modi government’s resolve to double farmers’ incomes by 2022. Agriculture is categorized by her as “Aspirational India”. All these sixteen measures are broadly in the...
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With a huge informal economy, government should increase spending, not worry about deficit -Maitreesh Ghatak
-The Indian Express To get the engine of the economy revving, an expansionary fiscal policy that harnesses the energy of the informal sector to boost aggregate demand is the order of the day. That India is in the midst of a serious economic slowdown is no longer in question. The debates are now mostly about what to do about it: Whether to opt for a fiscal expansion to boost demand or to...
More »Move to cash transfers will lead to savings, put agriculture on sustainable growth path -Ashok Gulati
-The Indian Express All such investments will go a long way to augment farmers’ incomes in a sustainable manner. Else, I am afraid, much of the talk in the Union budget for agri-reforms will remain mere rhetoric. Although the Union budget is basically an accounting exercise of revenues and expenditures for the coming year, economy-watchers anxiously wait for the finance minister to announce major economic reforms. In that sense, the budget of...
More »A rough patch
-The Indian Express High inflation reduces room for rate cuts. With limited fiscal space, FM must spell out plans to revive growth. Latest inflation data seems to corroborate fears articulated by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) in its December meeting when it refrained from cutting the benchmark repo rate. Retail inflation, as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), has surged to 7.35 per cent in December 2019, up from 5.54 per...
More »Modi govt policies hampering India's economic growth, foreign policy: risk firm -Suhasini Haidar
-The Hindu Eurasia Group places India as 5th highest geopolitical risk in 2020 list India has been ranked the 5th highest “Geopolitical Risk” in 2020, according to a list of 10 global risks in the year ahead, compiled by the Eurasia Group, a leading global political risk management consultancy. It said that in its second term, the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s “social” policies were affecting India’s economic agenda and foreign policy image. “Prime...
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