-Livemint.com In the last decade, the rural constituent has emerged an important factor for overall private final consumption, which forms more than half (55-60% range) of India’s demand side GDP An above-average monsoon is commonly expected to be a key demand driver in 2016-17. Gross domestic product (GDP) forecasts for the year incorporate a revival in rural consumption—a segment that suffered severe setback from two successive years of adverse rainfall. In...

-The Indian Express NDA’s existing agricultural policies are ill-equipped to achieve the stated goal of doubling them in five years. As the Narendra Modi government completed two years in office, almost each arm of government issued hordes of advertisements celebrating achievements and delineating policies and programmes that were transforming India. The ministry of agriculture and farmers’ welfare came out with a big picture of PM Modi, spelling out 10 points reflecting the...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: India has done well in curbing stunting over the last decade, but the growing number of overweight people, particularly those prone to diabetes, may be a cause of concern, the Global Nutrition Report 2016, says. Though still home to one third of the world's 159 million stunted children aged below five years, India has witnessed a sharp decline in the prevalence of stunting, from 48% in 2006...

-The Economic Times blog Prayers have been answered, monsoon has made landfall in Kerala, close to where Vasco da Gama landed in 1498. Potentially, the impact on political fortunes will be no less. This government has promised to double farm incomes in six years and economists argued that this would be impossible because it would entail a 12% annual growth in incomes; unprecedented globally. Starting from such abysmally low farm income...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: India has done well in curbing stunting over the last decade, but the growing number of overweight people, particularly those prone to diabetes, may be a cause of concern, the Global Nutrition Report, 2016, says. Though still home to one-third of the world's 159 million stunted children aged below five years, India has witnessed a sharp decline in the prevalence of stunting, from 48% in 2006...