The phenomenal growth in foodgrain production witnessed in the 2016-17 crop year will not repeat this year. Early prediction by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare shows that the kharif foodgrain production in 2017-18 may likely to fall by 2.8 percent as compared that in the previous year. The kharif foodgrain production is expected to decline from 138.5 million tonnes in 2016-17 to 134.7 million tonnes in 2017-18. Readers...

-TheWire.in Mahesh Vyas of the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) responds to the NITI Aayog vice-chairman’s dismissal of CMIE’s research on unemployment in India. In an interview with Karan Thapar for The Wire, NITI Aayog’s vice chairman, Rajiv Kumar, has been dismissive about CMIE-BSE unemployment statistics. He says that I had no answer to chief statistician T.C.A. Anant’s question on seasonal adjustment of unemployment data. This is an incorrect description of...

-The Financial Express Air pollution in delhi has reached extremely hazardous levels, with grave health consequences. Blame has been pinned on paddy stubble burning in neighbouring states of Haryana and Punjab – in fact, it is one of the main causes for the dangerous air quality index levels in the national capital and surrounding areas. This usually happens ahead of the winter season. Stubble burning is essentially a common practice followed...

-The Telegraph New delhi: Manmohan Singh, once nicknamed Maunmohan by Narendra Modi, has delivered the most comprehensive and stringent critique yet of the Prime Minister and his governance, declaring failure with "both the head and the heart". Citing statistics but taking care to throw in personal elements and a historical perspective in the run-up to the demonetisation anniversary, the former Prime Minister strafed his successor from multiple flanks. But the economist kept the...

-Livemint.com Cash scarcity led to a spike in digital payments post demonetisation, but the trend reversed as remonetisation picked up pace New delhi: Soon after demonetisation was announced on 8 November last year, it was projected as part of a broader push towards a cashless economy. Several ministers and government officials claimed that this would nudge Indians to rely on non-cash or digital payments. In the weeks and months following demonetisation, digital payments...