Above the Fold: Top stories of the day
1. The Indian Meteorological Department has said that the monsoon, which was supposed to hit Kerala on June 1, will now arrive by June 5.
2. Terrorists have crippled BSNL's telephone network in the Kashmir valley, as part of a campaign to ensure there are no telephony services. North Kashmir in particular has seen its entire network collapse.
3. In an interview to United News International, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that certain statements made by those in his party had been "totally uncalled for", referring to the many communally charged comments from some of his party colleagues.
4. The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review today could see the central bank cutting interest rates.
The Big Story: Who's growing?
The gap in performance between the official Gross Domestic Product series and the fortunes of India Inc has prompted speculation that the 7.5% GDP growth figure for the fourth quarter of 2014-'15 will be revised downward. The new method of calculating GDP numbers includes the performance of all five lakh companies registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, as opposed to a sampling of just 2,000 before. But not all companies file their numbers on time, making revisions in GDP numbers more likely.
The disparity between the GDP growth figures and corporates has been particularly stark. When India's GDP grows at 7.5%, as it is said to have done last quarter, beating out China, corporate revenues tend to grow around 15% and profits around 20%. But the net sales of 1,700 companies, according to the Business Standard, rose just 5.9%, the slowest in two years, with core profits declining 0.5% annually.
The disparity between the two has driven many to distrust the government's new series and focus more on indicators directly from companies. But a sharp revision in the GDP number is unlikely to automatically lead to more trust in the series and it might even do the opposite, prompting analysts to distrust the way data are collected.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Here's one way of increasing India's GDP by more than a quarter: give women more jobs. This is how Modi's government has actually fared over the last year, on the economic front.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. Reversing a long-standing policy, the government has said it will attempt to invoke the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice for tortured war veteran Captain Saurabh Kalia, if the Supreme Court permits.
2. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has sought to lay down an unambiguous policy of always siding with victims of atrocities and standing up for Dalit rights, as part of his new blueprint for the party.
3. At least 30 of the 187 outdated laws that the Modi government has attempted to repeal in Parliament were already repealed in earlier pieces of legislation. The prime minister had promised to repeal one every day.
4. Sharmishta Mukherjee and Anil Sasi in the Indian Express write about major difficulties that stand in the way of the government's plan to upgrade emission norms for vehicles.
5. The Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United) merger was officially put off on Monday, with the parties even looking uncertain as allies ahead of elections in Bihar.
6. Karnataka has decided to appeal the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, after the ruling Congress dithered over the question of whether it wanted to alienate the powerful politician and the chief minister of a neighbouring state.
Giggle
Punditry
1. Pratap Bhanu Mehta in the Indian Express takes apart the India Institute of Technology-Madras' decision to de-recognise the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle for violating norms, saying it represents all of the problems of Indian higher education.
2. A leader in the Hindu says that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, which took place one year ago, offers opportunities for both states, but they need to start working together.
3. Aveek Sen in the Telegraph, looks back at 150 years of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, saying "the story of Alice's voice, and of what she does with it in each of her encounters, counterpoints the story of what happens to her body."
Don't Miss
Shriya Mohan reports on how junk food is feeding a malnutrition epidemic in Delhi's slums.
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letters@scroll.in.
1. The Indian Meteorological Department has said that the monsoon, which was supposed to hit Kerala on June 1, will now arrive by June 5.
2. Terrorists have crippled BSNL's telephone network in the Kashmir valley, as part of a campaign to ensure there are no telephony services. North Kashmir in particular has seen its entire network collapse.
3. In an interview to United News International, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that certain statements made by those in his party had been "totally uncalled for", referring to the many communally charged comments from some of his party colleagues.
4. The Reserve Bank of India's monetary policy review today could see the central bank cutting interest rates.
The Big Story: Who's growing?
The gap in performance between the official Gross Domestic Product series and the fortunes of India Inc has prompted speculation that the 7.5% GDP growth figure for the fourth quarter of 2014-'15 will be revised downward. The new method of calculating GDP numbers includes the performance of all five lakh companies registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, as opposed to a sampling of just 2,000 before. But not all companies file their numbers on time, making revisions in GDP numbers more likely.
The disparity between the GDP growth figures and corporates has been particularly stark. When India's GDP grows at 7.5%, as it is said to have done last quarter, beating out China, corporate revenues tend to grow around 15% and profits around 20%. But the net sales of 1,700 companies, according to the Business Standard, rose just 5.9%, the slowest in two years, with core profits declining 0.5% annually.
The disparity between the two has driven many to distrust the government's new series and focus more on indicators directly from companies. But a sharp revision in the GDP number is unlikely to automatically lead to more trust in the series and it might even do the opposite, prompting analysts to distrust the way data are collected.
The Big Scroll: Scroll.in on the day's biggest story
Here's one way of increasing India's GDP by more than a quarter: give women more jobs. This is how Modi's government has actually fared over the last year, on the economic front.
To get Scroll's Daily Fix, a compendium of all you need to know for the day (and a little more) on your phone, download our Android app.
Politicking & Policying
1. Reversing a long-standing policy, the government has said it will attempt to invoke the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice for tortured war veteran Captain Saurabh Kalia, if the Supreme Court permits.
2. Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi has sought to lay down an unambiguous policy of always siding with victims of atrocities and standing up for Dalit rights, as part of his new blueprint for the party.
3. At least 30 of the 187 outdated laws that the Modi government has attempted to repeal in Parliament were already repealed in earlier pieces of legislation. The prime minister had promised to repeal one every day.
4. Sharmishta Mukherjee and Anil Sasi in the Indian Express write about major difficulties that stand in the way of the government's plan to upgrade emission norms for vehicles.
5. The Rashtriya Janata Dal-Janata Dal (United) merger was officially put off on Monday, with the parties even looking uncertain as allies ahead of elections in Bihar.
6. Karnataka has decided to appeal the acquittal of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, after the ruling Congress dithered over the question of whether it wanted to alienate the powerful politician and the chief minister of a neighbouring state.
Giggle
#HeatWave @_MumbaiMirror: Today's cartoon by @hemantmorparia pic.twitter.com/mKZICaJoeI"
— hemant morparia (@hemantmorparia) May 28, 2015Punditry
1. Pratap Bhanu Mehta in the Indian Express takes apart the India Institute of Technology-Madras' decision to de-recognise the Ambedkar Periyar Study Circle for violating norms, saying it represents all of the problems of Indian higher education.
2. A leader in the Hindu says that the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, which took place one year ago, offers opportunities for both states, but they need to start working together.
3. Aveek Sen in the Telegraph, looks back at 150 years of Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland, saying "the story of Alice's voice, and of what she does with it in each of her encounters, counterpoints the story of what happens to her body."
Don't Miss
Shriya Mohan reports on how junk food is feeding a malnutrition epidemic in Delhi's slums.
This huge lifestyle shift, particularly in urban households, has led to vitamin deficiencies in both poor children who are malnourished and affluent children who are obese. Almost all children face a severe deficiency of iron and Vitamin A due to a lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in their diet, and Vitamin D due to limited exposure to sunlight.
