The latest retail inflation data suggest, at first flush, that price pressures have begun to moderate in the economy, with the August print for CPI showing inflation having slowed for a second straight month to a 5.3% pace, after July’s 5.59%. Price trends among the constituents of the Consumer Price Index and the latest Wholesale Price Index-based inflation, however, show that it would be premature to drop the guard on price gains. For one, the year-earlier inflation reading was elevated thus imparting a favourable base effect. Month-on-month, however, the CPI nudged up 0.25% from July, belying the inference of softening inflation. And the pace of price gains in at least three essential food components speeded up from the preceding month, with meat and fish, dairy and oils and fats posting significant accelerations. Edible oils have been on a tear for months now — the August print was 33% after July’s 32.5% — and an earlier round of cuts in import duties have had little impact in
The Bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to exempt aspirants for its undergraduate medical courses from the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) is no magic wand that will dramatically alter the status quo. There seems to be no tangible basis for the hope and optimism behind its intent to deliver its rural and urban poor from what it perceives to be an inequitable admission system that favours the rich and the elite. It hopes to receive Presidential assent, even though similar Bills passed by the erstwhile AIADMK regime had been denied the favour in 2017. Such assent is required as the proposed State law is in conflict with the parliamentary legislation regulating medical admissions. The key element the DMK has brought to the table now to fulfil its electoral promise of abolishing NEET is a report by the Justice (retd.) A.K. Rajan Committee on the adverse impact of NEET on students and health-care delivery in the State. The committee’s view that NEET would adversely affect
