Dear Express Explained reader, The government banned most exports of wheat on Saturday, making an extraordinary about-turn just a day after announcing that trade delegations would travel to several countries to explore "possibilities of boosting wheat exports from India". Figures released on Thursday showed the annual consumer price inflation hitting a near eight-year high of 7.79 per cent in April, and retail food inflation surging to 8.38 per cent. Added to this is the fact that the procurement of wheat by government agencies has fallen to a 15-year low, with less than half the record procurement of 2021-22 having been bought in this marketing season so far. Earlier in the week, Harish Damodaran had analysed the reasons for the low procurement, which also explain the government's decision over the weekend to ban exports. After the ban was announced, economists Ashok Gulati and Sanchit Gupta argued why the government should not have reacted in this knee-jerk manner, and what it could have done instead. There is another explainer related to the agriculture sector that I would like to recommend to you today: Harikishan Sharma's excellent status report on India's requirement of fertilisers, how much of it can be procured from within the country, and how the war in Ukraine has impacted supplies and prices. Do read. (Harikishan also flagged this week that the all-India monthly average retail price of wheat flour (atta) touched its highest level in April since January 2010, the earliest month for which data are available — anticipating the wheat export ban that was coming.) The Supreme Court has said that it would be appropriate to virtually keep in abeyance the operation of India's sedition law until the government has reviewed the provision. Apurva Vishwanath put the ruling in perspective — the obligations it places on the government with regard to the use of the highly controversial and widely criticised law. Separately, Apurva wrote about the IPC's Section 124A itself, what it says and where it comes from, and the positions that the Supreme Court has previously taken on it. Also, you might like to read why almost all parties love the sedition law despite the high pendency of cases and low rates of conviction in the courts, and what men like Gandhi, Nehru, and Tilak had said about this law that was used against them and other leaders of India's freedom struggle by the colonial government. There were two explainers on the economy this week that I'd like to suggest you read, both by Udit Misra, who writes the excellent Explainspeaking newsletter every week: one on the exchange rate and the fall of the rupee to a historic low, and the other on the cause and effect of rising inflation. Stay safe and stay aware. Keep reading The Indian Express Explained. Some of our content is now behind a paywall, so if you haven't subscribed to The Indian Express yet, this may be the perfect time to do so. Click here to subscribe. Sincerely, Monojit (monojit.majumdar@expressindia.com) If you received this newsletter as a forward, you can subscribe to it here | Do read our Explained articles here | 
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