-PTI Washington: Tiny northeastern state of Sikkim has the best working conditions for women, while national capital Delhi fared the lowest, according to a report. The report released by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a top American think-tank, and Nathan Associates, gave Sikkim the highest possible 40 points while Delhi received just 8.5. The states were ranked according to four primary factors -- legal restrictions on women’s working hours in...

-Business Today Priyanka Kishore, Lead Asia Economist at Oxford Economics tells Business Today why India's GDP may well not be 7 per cent. Excerpts from an interview. * What were the reasons that prompted you to relook at India's growth numbers? India announced a revamped GDP series in early 2015, based on the requirements of the 2008 System of National Accounts (SNA). The new method made substantial changes to both the estimation and...

-DNA Only 17% rural households take loans from financial institutions | Caste affiliation, gender play a part in getting credit As many as 31% of rural households in India are indebted and a significant number still depend on money-lenders, paying heavy interests, despite various government schemes and a network of rural banking. A parliamentary panel that probed the state of rural, agricultural banking found that a mere 17% rural household had taken...

-Livemint.com Overall foodgrain output, however, rose marginally to 252.22 mt in FY16, farm ministry’s advance estimates show New Delhi: The crippling drought over the past year failed to impact India’s overall foodgrain production but led to the lowest production of pulses in six years, showed the fourth advance estimates released by the agriculture ministry on Tuesday. In fact, according to the ministry, foodgrain production rose marginally—from 252.02 million tonnes (mt) in 2014-15 to 252.22...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: In chasing higher and higher GDP growth rates, India tends to gloss over two vital facts. One, farm growth cuts poverty twice as fast as industrial growth. Two, a 1% rise in agricultural output raises industrial production by 0.5% and national income by 0.7%, according to one calculation. In other words, the country’s fortunes are structurally tied to its farmers. Two-thirds of Indians rely on a farm-based income....