Best of BS Opinion: Modi's twin test, Brexit & nostalgia, and more

Today's views focus on Modi's role as a reformer, what the automobile industry signals for the Indian economy and the risks of the government spending more, immediately, to combat the recession

How far will the new farm reform laws help farmers get better returns for their produce? Global history shows that farmers will respond to those crops where their share of the take is higher, says T N Ninan. The hope for the success of the freeing up of agri-markets, he writes here, lies in getting farmer producer organisations off the ground and focusing on productivity.
 

Other views focus on Modi’s role as a reformer, what the automobile industry signals for the Indian economy and the risks of the government spending more, immediately, to combat the recession. Kanika Datta sums them up.
 

If Modi is a true reformer, he’ll bury the Vodafone tax ghost for good and go to Bihar and campaign on his latest, politically controversial farm and labour reforms, writes Shekhar Gupta. Read it here.
 

The monthly registration data for new vehicles may well be the single most accurate indicator of India’s economic health. Devangshu Datta explains why here
 

Economists who have been insistently demanding that the government should spend a lot immediately to kick-start the economy have failed to account for the need to keep some fiscal room for contingencies, writes T C A Srinivasa Raghavan. Read it here
 

Quote of the DAY
 

‘We expect economic activity in India to begin to normalise in fiscal 2022, resulting in real GDP growth of about 10 per cent’

Standard & Poor’s after affirming India’s long term rating at BBB-