Food inflation in India has been accelerating at more than 8 per cent year-on-year since November 2023
At the halfway mark of India’s elections, food remains a pinch point, for both consumers and producers. Inflation numbers bear the pain out: even as the overall retail inflation rate remained virtually unchanged in April, food inflation surged to a four-month high of 8.7 per cent, where rural consumers bore
Despite Election Commission’s campaigns urging every citizen to vote, millions of India’s migrant workers find it nearly impossible to exercise their democratic right.
“Among every 1,000 men in our villages, around 300 voters are working outside the State. It is not possible for all of them to return to cast their vote,” says Habib Biswas, 29, from Faridpur in Murshidabad district, West Bengal, who drives heavy vehicles for a living. He is, however,
India’s first opium processing factory in Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur stands as a testament to the region’s rich history
The opium factory in Ghazipur | Photo Credit: Anand Mishra India’s first opium processing factory, set up 200 years ago in Ghazipur district, Uttar Pradesh (UP) is now a thing of the past. There was a time, recalls Rudra Narayan Tiwari, a former journalist-turned-taxi-driver from Tiwaripur when the factory, ‘Govt
The other ‘Coal Scam’ – Frontline
More than a decade ago, when media and civil society were going gung-ho against the then UPA government for the “Coalgate” scandal, the furore was focussed on a report prepared by an independent institution, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, that revealed evidence implicating the Union government and
India Heatwave 2024: Deaths, Crop Failures, and Economic Impact Highlight Climate Vulnerabilities
In his book The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet Jeff Goodell writes; “We simply have not come to terms with it, especially in the way I am describing. It is not how anyone expects to die. In part, it’s because we live in
Modi’s economic policies are primarily driven by political objectives rather than substantive economic concerns
Modi’s policies have caused an unusual increase of income and wealth concentration in the hands of a few business houses. | Photo Credit: AMIIT DAVE/REUTERS The election results, which gave both the BJP and the National Democratic Alliance a far fewer number of seats than they had in the previous
India’s Booming Forex Reserves: Hidden Risks and Economic Concerns
The influx of foreign capital to India is creating domestic vulnerabilities by causing a credit boom, particularly in retail lending. | Photo Credit: REUTERS Figures on India’s balance of payments in financial year 2023-24, released by the Reserve Bank of India recently, have added to the hype on India’s growth
India’s Election 2024: Caste Politics Surge Exposes Economic Anxieties and Policy Vacuum
In the recent general election, many voters gave their material interests priority over Hindu nationalism, delivering a shock to the ruling BJP. In doing so, they demolished the hype about “India on the move”, propagated by both international and domestic elites. The hype—built on exaggerated GDP growth numbers and detached-from-reality
India’s Path to Developed Nation Status by 2047 Remains Uncertain | C.P. Chandrasekhar
In the search for the next country that will transit from backward to advanced status, India’s name sometimes features. This is partly because the idea has been mooted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who promises to make India a “developed nation” by 2047. A country is identified by official agencies
Budget 2024 Shows That Modi Government Has Not Learnt From Its Electoral Setbacks
The hype around the presentation of the Union Budget is often overblown in India, but it still merits attention. Because it provides an indication of the nature and intentions of the Central government, at least for the year going forward, it is both economically and politically significant. What does this year’s