-The Hindu In the farm laws debate, the focus should be on the exchequer-farm subsidies issue and the spending on farm subsidies In the on-going debates around the three new pieces of agricultural legislation and the farmers’ demand for continuation of minimum support prices (MSP), questions have often been raised whether the government should be using the taxpayers’ money to provide subsidies to the farming community in this country. However, logically, two...

-Livemint.com Low incomes and poor farm-gate prices capture the reality of relentless distress in our hinterland National accounts data released last month estimated that the economy has contracted by 7.5% in the second quarter of 2020-21 compared to last year. For many, this was a sign of recovery, given expectations that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) would contract by around 10%. It is, no doubt, an improvement from the 23.9% GDP decline...

-The New Indian Express Bangladesh will post the best growth in the region growing at 5.2 per cent on the back of revived exports, said the Asian Development Bank in its Asian Development Outlook. NEW DELHI:  India’s GDP is expected to contract by 8 per cent in the current financial year and will be the worst performer in South Asia barring Maldives. Bangladesh will post the best growth in the region growing at...

-Livemint.com/ PTI Ashok Gehlot demanded that PM Modi reconsider the agriculture laws to protect the interests of farmers and democratic values Jaipur: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday demanded the central government reconsider the three new farm laws against which farmers are staging protests. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said that even when GDP growth rate has been -7.5 per cent in the financial year 2020-21,...

-Livemint.com/ PTI * 'Despite being the worst affected sector in Q1(due to lockdown), it is quite puzzling how manufacturing turned itself around in Q2,' says Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, SBI * There is evidence of inventory buildup that could act as a drag on future manufacturing growth, says Ghosh New Delhi: The surprise resilience shown by the manufacturing sector that restricted GDP contraction to only 7.5 per cent in September...