-National Herald Universal cash transfer to non-income tax households is imperative apart from covering investment on infrastructure, including social infrastructure like healthcare A striking aspect of the 24 per cent decline in GDP in the first quarter of 2020-21 compared to the previous year’s first quarter is the decline by 10.3 per cent in public administration, defence and other public services. This is a sector where the GDP is estimated not by...

-Livemint.com A leaked NSO survey report says that expenditure by consumers across India actually fell over a six-year span till 2017-18. This is at odds with our GDP data. So what explains this finding? Is Indian consumption in decline? Anecdotal evidence has pointed that way for some time. But now, a leaked survey report of the National Statistical Office (NSO), published on Friday in Business Standard, seems to confirm suspicions of such...

-The Indian Express Government should explore all avenues to expand capital expenditures From a level of 8.1 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2017-18, quarterly GDP growth fell to 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2019-20, a fall of 3.1 percentage points. The slowdown of the Indian economy is no longer in dispute. Thankfully, the government has come out of denial mode. The critical question is: What should...

-The Indian Express Government could give fertiliser subsidy directly to farmers and let them decide if they want to practise zero budget natural farming or use chemical-fertilisers. The Narendra Modi government completed 100 days of its second term (Modi 2.0) last week. On this occasion, most cabinet ministers spoke of the achievements of their ministries. The headlines in newspapers were, however, about the abrogation of Article 370, or the biggest slump...

-The Hindu Business Line The government must simplify and rationalise GST, kickstart rural consumption, revive agriculture and tackle the lack of credit for capital creation, says former PM Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, an eminent economist himself, feels that the Narendra Modi-led government needs to come out of its habit of headline management and address the economic challenges which the country is facing today. “We cannot afford to deny that India is facing...