In the financial year 2017-18 when tractor sales touched new heights, it was said by many of the NDA (viz. National Democratic Alliance) government supporters that rural demand has revived on account of adequate monsoon rainfall and higher minimum support prices for crops. Many economists and newspaper columnists also denied the existence of any rural distress. An alternative perspective, however, was also presented by rural economists like Dr. Himanshu who teaches...

-Scroll.in Democracy requires a national character that isn’t grounded in ignorance and government policy that is not a sophisticated version of Whatsapp. It is now clear – 1,020 days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi told India he was wiping out 85% of its currency, by value – that demonetisation was not just a failure but a spectacularly misconceived move. That its destructive effects took at least 100 lives in its immediate aftermath,...

-The Indian Express The emerging consensus within India Inc. on the need for a government-led stimulus notwithstanding, the Centre has limited fiscal space given the lower tax collections. The Budget was a missed opportunity in terms of signalling reforms New Delhi: India Inc’s clamour for a stimulus to restart the investment cycle points to a near unanimous view within the industry — that government has to do the heavy lifting first...

-The Hindu Pandits, Dogras and Buddhists demand maintenance of current population status, rights over land With the revoking of the special status of Kashmir, Pandits, Dogras and Buddhists have made separate demands for domicile laws in the proposed Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. The reasons they cite include the need to maintain the current population status, ensuring jobs for local people and the rights over land use. BJP State spokesman...

-The Times of India SHIMLA/ MANALI/ UTTARKASHI: At least 31 people were killed, 10 were missing and hundreds of tourists left stranded as another day of torrential rains in the hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand triggered flash floods, landslides and uprooting of trees on Sunday. Himachal Pradesh received its highest ever single-day rainfall, recording an average of 102.5mm on Sunday, 1,065% higher than normal. Around 670 Roads across the state,...