Amidst the prevailing gloominess over agrarian crisis, a recently released report says that the growth rate of agricultural output in both India and China were the same during 2008-2013. The agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) of both these countries on an average grew at 3.3 percent per annum during that period. The latest available data from the 2016 Global Food Policy Report, however, indicates that the neighbouring countries of Sri Lanka...
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In fact: There is a drought in many parts of India. Why hasn’t it been noticed? -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express Because this time, it’s only rural producers, not urban consumers, who are feeling the heat This time’s drought has been a most unusual one. Even with three consecutive bad crops (kharif 2014, rabi 2015, and kharif 2015) and a fourth not-so-great one (thankfully, there’s been no big damage from the unseasonal rain and hail unlike in March 2015), annual consumer food price inflation is only 5.3 per cent. In the...
More »Clearing the air on LPG -Siddharth George & Arvind Subramanian
-The Indian Express Several questions have been raised about our estimates of the savings from the DBT scheme for cooking gas. But all parties accept that the programme reduced subsidised sales by 24 per cent. Direct cash transfers have the potential to improve the economic lives of the poor by transferring benefits to households quickly and directly. Achieving these benefits requires thoughtful design of schemes, and careful, rigorous analysis of ongoing...
More »Gujarat starts implementation of Food Security Act
-PTI Ahmedabad: Gujarat government today started implementation of National Food Security Act (NFSA), state cabinet minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama said. The scheme, however, will be officially launched on April 6 by Chief Minister Ananiben Patel, Chudasama, the Gujarat Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer affairs minister, said. "Under the scheme, we will cover around 3.40 crore eligible citizens who will be given food grains at subsidised rates through our Public Distribution System (PDS) shops. The...
More »Inflation higher in poorer states
-The Financial Express This is a double whammy for the poor. Despite a fall in retail inflation to 5.18% in February from a 17-month high of 5.69% in the previous month, most of the lower-income states witnessed higher retail inflation than the richer ones, reports fe Bureau in New Delhi. According to DK Joshi, the chief economist at Crisil, higher-income states like Haryana, Kerala, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat saw lower retail inflation...
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