Best of BS Opinion: J&K occupying public discourse, but what about economy?

Jammu & Kashmir’s integration with India and the strange debates over the benefits it will bring to Indians in terms of land and women may occupy the public discourse, but is anyone thinking about the Indian economy? The opinion pages set out some of the critical issues that policy-makers need to confront, says Kanika Datta.

Sajjid Chinoy explains why fiscal or monetary stimulus won’t be enough to sustain close to 7-8 per cent growth in the medium term. Reforming land, labour, power and the financial sector is now imperative. Read it here

Tax policy is focused on increasing tax revenues but our objective should be a high GDP, not a high tax/GDP ratio, says Ajay Shah. Read it here

The Reserve Bank of India task force’s report on the problem of the growing offshore market for rupee trading points out thatregulatory burdens on transactions and participants are too high and irrationally structured. A lower fiscal deficit and public sector borrowing requirement would also help, says the top edit. Read it here

The US is accelerating global economic uncertainty by declaring China a currency manipulator, accusing the EU of similar actions and castigating India on tariffs. All of this calls for some sort of coherent policy adjustment to address the slowdown but that is missing, says the second edit here

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das abjured baby steps in cutting the policy rate in favour of a “golden mean” but this still does not address the issue of monetary policy transmission. Tamal Bandyopadhyay explains why we need two benchmarks to ensure this. Read it here

What does climate change have to do with the upsurge in white supremacy in the West? Drawing on the tragedy at El Paso, Texas, Sunita Narain explains how the global ecological crisis is indirectly amplifying a societal one. Read it here

 Quote of the Day

‘It is surprising that the Congress Working Committee (CWC) still wants Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to lead the party’
 

-BJP Vice President Shivraj Singh Chouhan