-The Indian Express Two loan defaults lead to two different outcomes, year upon year, a nightmare version of déjÀ vu. The former exits the country; the latter exits the mortal world. Liquor baron Vijay Mallya and diamond jeweler Nirav Modi could jointly run a crash course for the debt-ridden and beleaguered farmers of Vidarbha, nay the entire country: How to stay cool with unpaid debts. Mallya could tell the peasantry, for instance, how...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court's working strength would by year end fall to a low of 18 judges against the sanctioned strength of 31 if the government, locked in a standoff with the judiciary, continues resisting fresh appointments. Those due to retire this year include Chief Justice Dipak Misra (October 2) and Justices J. Chelameswar (June 22), Madan B. Lokur (December 30), Kurian Joseph (November 29), R.K. Agrawal (May 4)...

-Economic and Political Weekly The last budget of the Modi government comes against the backdrop of severe Agrarian and rural distress. It is also the last opportunity to undo the damage caused to the rural economy by this government in the last four years. While the government has finally acknowledged the gravity of the situation, its response has been limited to empty rhetoric without any financial commitment. Going by the past...

-Livemint.com Linking MSPs to a multiple of costs and ignoring other dynamics, such as demand and global prices, risks creating distortions and disincentivizing productivity Government policymaking seems to be making a volte-face from supporting consumers (by keeping food inflation low), to supporting producers (by raising food prices). In the 2018-19 Union budget, the government “decided to keep minimum support prices (MSP) for all unannounced crops of kharif at least at one-and-a-half times of...

-Livemint.com To stabilize crop prices and make them remunerative, the Swaminathan Commission proposed significant improvements in the implementation of MSPs Across the country, farmers are furious—and rightfully so. Four years ago, they helped bring the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, believing Narendra Modi’s claims that they would no longer suffer official neglect. But since then, conditions in agriculture have got worse. Earlier problems have worsened as farm incomes have been squeezed...