THE STATE OF THE ECONOMY In three weeks from now, the Finance Minister will present the Union Budget for 2018-19, the last full budget of this Government before the 2019 general elections. A couple of days ago, the Central Statistics Office published the first Advanced Estimates of National Income for 2017-18. This is, therefore, the right time to review the state of economy. Agriculture Agriculture has been in acute distress for a long time, especially since November 2016. Drought, floods and cyclones have further complicated life for farmers. With calls for farm loan waivers falling in deaf ears, the crisis has worsened. The Gross Value Addition (GVA) for agriculture and allied activities has been projected at 2.1 per cent in 2017-18 compared to a growth of 4.9 per cent in 2016-17. Total food grain production in Kharif season of 2017-18 fell by 3.85 million tonnes and stood at 134.67 million tonnes. The sown area for Rabi crop has seen a decline of 0.2 per cent. ...
