An analysis of the draft NSO report that the Government has decided not to put out shows a deterioration in 2017-18 in consumption and poverty levels in rural India. The reasons may be the demonetisation of 2016 and the shoddy introduction of GST in 2017.

In the absence of structural reforms for transformative growth, a rural-led growth strategy is the only option for economic revival at this point of time. Growth may be slower but it will be sustained. Supply-side measures like corporate cuts will not help.

Unemployment today is at an all-time high but that is not the only challenge in jobs: more and more workers are withdrawing from the labour force, the wages of casual workers are below a reasonable minimum, and regular workers are largely without a contract.

Over-promise and under-deliver has been the story of the Narendra Modi government's management of the economy.

Contrary to appearance, measurement of income (or ‘money-metric’) poverty – by failing to be transparent about the assumptions and values informing it – can serve the purpose of apologetics.

There have been landmark changes in the framework for centre-state fiscal relations in recent years. What do these hold out for the future of relations between the union and the states?

The jobs question is begging for answers from the polity. Here an agenda for dealing with urban unemployment, in particular. A key element could be investment in universal basic services. It is all doable provided we are not prisoners of fiscal orthodoxy.