Rural investment is the best way to revive economy, says Pronab Sen

The informal sector is starting to crawl back, and taking back some of the space it had given up after demonetisation

At a time when slowdown is the only narrative, top economists and thinkers offer their views on how to revive the economy. In the first part of a series, Pronab Sen, economist and former chief statistician of India, advocates higher investment in rural projects as the best solution.

The slowdown is the result of a lot of events. Part of it is cyclical, but there is a major structural element to it. There is also a data element as well. You have two factors: The cyclical slowdown, part of which began around 2013-14; and the structural elements that crop up are