-Down to Earth For every million rupees spent on agricultural research, 328 people are pulled out of poverty. In contrast, the same amount spent on power subsidies brings only 23 people come out of poverty. The message is clear. With the Union elections only a few months away, the Centre should prioritise capital Investments over populist subsidies to deliver on its promise of strengthening the farm sector. This is important, especially when the...

-National Herald Maitreesh Ghatak, Professor of Economics at London School of Economics, in an interview to Tathagata Bhattacharya says the government has failed on many counts At the end of the day, it is growth and employment generation via new Investment that is key to long-term economic progress. Various welfare schemes are a way of providing a social safety net to the poor in the short-run. It is performance along these two...

-The Hindu Business Line The MCA database, which underpins the jump in factory GDP, is unconvincing. The ASI method was set aside for wrong reasons In early 2015, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) introduced a new series of National Accounts Statistics (NAS) with 2011-12 as the base year, replacing the earlier series with the base year 2004-05. It is the CSO's routine job to make such revisions, roughly once in a decade,...

-The Hindu India’s GDP growth continues to be powered by consumption, not Investments A question being raised about the GDP estimates for the first quarter of this year (April-June) is: How should 8.2% GDP growth be interpreted in, or reconciled with, the overall context of some of the pronounced trends in the economy? These include the depreciating rupee, rising bank bad loans, or non-performing assets (NPAs), a trade deficit that has shot...

-The Hindu The disease cannot be eliminated without universal access to affordable, quality diagnostics and drugs After decades spent battling the scourge of tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries, 2018 might be the year that it is finally accorded the gravitas it deserves. On September 26, the UN General Assembly will, for the first time, address TB in a High-Level Meeting and likely release a Political Declaration, endorsed by all member nations, to...