A forecast for good monsoon rains this year is helping to boost expectations that the rural economy can continue to help spur the country's uptick in growth. AP Photo/R.S. Iyer
A forecast for good monsoon rains this year is helping to boost expectations that the rural economy can continue to help spur the country's uptick in growth. AP Photo/R.S. Iyer

Rural India is helping to revive the country's economy



Rural India is helping to revive the country's economy.

Gross Domestic Product data released on Thursday by India's Central Statistics Office showed growth of 7.7 per cent in the January to March quarter, helped by growth in the agriculture sector. This meant that India has retained its title of being one of the world's fastest growing major economies. Growth in the agriculture sector came in at 4.5 per cent for the quarter.

“The upswing was strongly supported by agriculture doing better-than-expected,” says Kapil Gupta, an economist at Edelweiss Research, a financial services company based in Mumbai.

Food grain production is projected to have reached a record high in the year from July 2017 to this month following decent monsoon rainfall in 2017, government figures show. The agricultural crop year is from June to July.

The latest data shows India's GDP expanding at the highest levels since the government's controversial demonetisation move in November 2016, which hit the heavily cash-dependent rural parts of the country particularly hard. The majority of India's population lives in rural areas, where farming is by far the main source of income.

GDP growth in the financial year to the end of March stood at 6.7 per cent, according to the government's figures.

State governments in India, including in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, have announced loan waivers to help support farmers. The government's union budget for the current financial year is heavily skewed towards to the rural population, in an effort to help it win crucial votes in the general election, due to take place next year. The government has promised to double farmers' incomes by 2022.

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“Policy makers and India Inc are coming together to help farmers and the other stakeholders in the agriculture sector,” says Siddhartha Choudhary, the chief executive of DestaGlobal. an Indian e-commerce and information company for the agriculture. “Agriculture-friendly policies, investment in building agri-infrastructure, and ensuring that the best products are made available at the right prices and at the right time are of utmost importance.”

A forecast for good monsoon rains this year is helping to boost expectations that the rural economy can continue to help spur the country's uptick in growth.

“A normal monsoon in 2018 and benign interest rates would support growth, together with the government’s thrust on rural and infrastructure sectors,” according to analysts at Crisil, an Indian ratings and research firm which is part of Standard & Poor's.

In particular, Crisil highlights that it is the rural population that is expected to drive an 11 to 12 per cent increase in revenues for companies in India's fast moving consumer goods sector in the current financial year, amid rising disposable incomes.

How to help

Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.

Account name: Dar Al Ber Society

Account Number: 11 530 734

IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734

Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae

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Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE

UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.

Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.

Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.

For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.

Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.

At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: ARDH Collective
Based: Dubai
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Sector: Sustainability
Total funding: Self funded
Number of employees: 4
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Cricket World Cup League 2

UAE squad

Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind

Fixtures

Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE

The National Archives, Abu Dhabi

Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.

Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en

If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

Places to go for free coffee
  • Cherish Cafe Dubai, Dubai Investment Park, are giving away free coffees all day. 
  • La Terrace, Four Points by Sheraton Bur Dubai, are serving their first 50 guests one coffee and four bite-sized cakes
  • Wild & The Moon will be giving away a free espresso with every purchase on International Coffee Day
  • Orange Wheels welcome parents are to sit, relax and enjoy goodies at ‘Café O’ along with a free coffee
From Zero

Artist: Linkin Park

Label: Warner Records

Number of tracks: 11

Rating: 4/5

Trippier bio

Date of birth September 19, 1990

Place of birth Bury, United Kingdom

Age 26

Height 1.74 metres

Nationality England

Position Right-back

Foot Right

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Know your cyber adversaries

Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.

Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.

Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.

Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.

Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.

Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.

Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.

Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.

Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.

Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.

Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.

EA Sports FC 25
Kanguva
Director: Siva
Stars: Suriya, Bobby Deol, Disha Patani, Yogi Babu, Redin Kingsley
Rating: 2/5
 
Nayanthara: Beyond The Fairy Tale

Starring: Nayanthara, Vignesh Shivan, Radhika Sarathkumar, Nagarjuna Akkineni

Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

Company%20Profile
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