Demonetisation to blame?

It could have triggered the current economic slowdown. No Images? Click here     The spate of bad news on the economic front is showing no signs of letting up, and Pronab Sen, India’s first Chief Statistician, thinks that the government’s plan to merge public-sector banks will not fix the problem. In a long interview with HuffPost India’s Akshay Deshmane, Sen says that demonetisation may have been the initial trigger for the economic slowdown that we are experiencing now. “This is the result of a much more fundamental problem which is not going to be cured by bringing down the prices of automobiles,” he said. In other news, Betwa Sharma reports that the government is finding new ways to intimidate Kashmiris, including threatening to cancel the passports of people who have been booked for allegedly posting “sensitive remarks” on Facebook. And as Margaret Atwood’s much-anticipated The Testaments, the sequel to her 1985 dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale, releases tomorrow, Harsimran Gill examines what a feminist utopia could look like.   Demonetisation Initial Trigger For Current Economic Slowdown, Says India’s Former Chief Statistician Dr Pronab Sen The former Chief Statistician said the poor performance of the global economy is only a “contributory factor” to the current slowdown and not its cause.  Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman’s decision to merge India’s public sector banks, Pronab Sen said, was unlikely to fix the ailing economy, and neither is the much-discussed demand for a reduction in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on automobiles the solution for addressing the current economic slowdown.  READ MORE Cancelling Passports Over Facebook Posts? Modi Govt's Testing New Intimidation Tactics On Kashmiris Five lawyers told HuffPost India that moving to cancel the passports of citizens living abroad over allegedly objectionable Facebook posts is “unprecedented.” In the month since the government abrogated Jammu & Kashmir’s special status, J&K—which is still undergoing severe communication and mobility restrictions—has turned into a laboratory for government excess and overreach.  READ MORE In case you missed it… How Vidya Balan Stopped Feeling Guilty And Began Loving Herself India's First Mass Detention Centre Is Being Built In Assam. This Is What It Will Look Like As Margaret Atwood’s 'The Testaments' Hits The Stands, A Look At Feminist Utopias     New to this email? You can sign up here. You can also follow HuffPost India on Flipboard. ©2019 HuffPost India | Worldmark 3, FL 3, Aerocity, Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi, Delhi 110037 You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates from HuffPost India. Feedback | Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe   - - Unsubscribe