Latest News

Opinion: Bornali Bhandari and Laxmi Joshi.  Small farmers lack access to tools, as the tractor-dominated farm machinery sector suffers from demand, supply constraints India is simply not producing the sort of farm machinery that our small and marginal farmers want or can readily use at a price which appeals to them. Farm machinery comprises equipment...   Read More

Highlights

  • GST on some more items to be cut

    The GST Council may consider reduction in tax rates on host of items with low revenue implications as part of the tax rationalisation exercise in its next meeting on July 21. The items which could be considered for cutting of tax rates might include sanitary napkins handicrafts and handloom goods besides certain services. Several industry...   Read More

  • Who is to blame for oil price surge?

    Public sector oil companies need to be transparent in their price fixation policies. Policymakers also need to question whether our oil companies/refineries are efficient by world standards. Only then can one identify the ex-post and ex-ante factors behind the high domestic oil price The spikes in petrol and diesel prices are the focus of attention...   Read More

  • Data in a post-truth age

    Trust in official statistics is vital for democracy — the new policy must avoid centralisation David Spiegelhalter president of Royal Statistical Society in the U.K. gave a most unusual presidential address in 2017. Instead of talking about esoteric statistical techniques he talked about declining trust in numbers in a post-truth society bombarded by fake news...   Read More

  • Gender gap in land ownership

    Women comprise over 42 per cent of the agricultural labour force in the country signifying increasing feminisation of agriculture and yet they own less than 2 per cent of its farm land. According to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) notwithstanding laws ensuring women's rights to agricultural land most such land is owned by either...   Read More

  • Steel Magnolias: US trade tariffs on steel and impact on India

    Last month the United States President Donald Tump imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports into the county citing concerns about the dumping of cheap imported steel ruining American industries and taking away jobs. Given the trade relations between the US and India it is important to examine what these tariffs will mean for the Indian...   Read More

  • Tripura’s bamboo sector: Potential and challenges

    About a third of the total area of Tripura is covered by bamboo and bamboo has emerged as a key thrust area for the state’s industrial development. Based on a field visit that was undertaken to study skill development in Tripura’s bamboo sector Bornali Bhandari discusses the livelihood-based approach of Tripura Bamboo Mission vis-à-vis a...   Read More

  • Push for solar energy: Is India on the right path?

    Delhi recently hosted the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit from 10th to 12th March 2018. With 55 countries having signed the ISA framework agreement and 26 of them already ratifying it it looks like the ISA is certainly gaining momentum. Of course India seems to be the right platform for such an event. After all...   Read More

  • The power of numbers

    Time magazine dedicated its person of the year (2017) cover to women who broke the silence surrounding the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and violence especially in the workplace. It took a string of allegations by women with public images they could leverage and were willing to put at stake to give heightened visibility to the...   Read More

  • Time to Nurture the Hands that Feed us

    One of the grimmest projections for the future of the earth as we know is the irreversible degradation of agricultural land caused by depletion of water bodies and climate change rendering it progressively unfit for cultivation within a span of less than a century. Where does that leave the Indian farmer who has been consistently...   Read More

  • Non-tariff measures: For trade, here is how challenge can be turned into opportunity

    Policy orientation in modern-age trade negotiations has progressively turned to non-price measures looking beyond tariff liberalisation  A better information system for domestic exporter will assist upgrade of domestic industry to meet global norms. (Reuters) Policy orientation in modern-age trade negotiations has progressively turned to non-price measures looking beyond tariff liberalisation. In the past India’s FTAs...   Read More

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