Insights
Citizens’ Insensitivity towards Waste Segregation is eating up Municipal Finances
February 25, 2019
Solid Waste Management is a component of public health and sanitation and it falls within the purview of the State List according to the Constitution of India. Since this activity is nonexclusive, unrivalled & essential, the responsibility for providing the service lies within the public domain.
Public Provisioning for Access to Justice - Applying the Budget Lens
February 22, 2019
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) accord high priority to access to justice. Goal 16 of the SDGs is to, ‘promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.
Questioning Roads to Development
February 19, 2019
Building rural roads has received a fillip under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) – II government with the pace of construction of rural roads having nearly doubled since 2014. Out of 1,58,013 habitations sanctioned by the Ministry of Rural Development to be connected under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY), 1,44,398 habitations have already been connected.
Missing: The woman farmer
February 14, 2019
Land rights structurally escape women. This is a fundamental issue in understanding why women’s work as farmers is largely invisible. However, the large-scale migration of men towards pursuing other non-farm employment opportunities due to the worsening agrarian crisis has pushed more women into this sector.
144% More Funds For Agriculture, But Not Enough To Quell Farm Unrest
February 12, 2019
Agriculture has got an unprecedented 144% rise in allocation in the interim budget announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government–from Rs 57,600 crore in the 2018-19 budget estimates to Rs 1,40,764 crore in the interim budget.
Piyush Goyal's FY20 forecast of GST revenue growth is ambitious; any shortfall to affect social sector spending
February 4, 2019
The much expected Interim Union Budget 2019-20 was presented on 1 February, 2019 and a number of major announcements were made, with new schemes being introduced, ranging from a small income guarantee scheme to farmers having less than 2 hectares landholding, to a new contributory pension scheme for unorganised sector workers earning less than Rs. 15,000 per month.
Tackling resource deficiency
February 3, 2019
A popular question on the Interim Union Budget for 2019-20 would be: If and to what extent it could help the ruling political dispensation in the elections this year. The initiative of providing income support to small and marginal farmers, introduced in the Interim Budget, seems to be the only big measure announced in recent times that is backed adequately by budgetary commitments; but this too has come very late in this government’s term.
Two sides of the coin: Tax incentives and revenue forgone
February 1, 2019
The use of tax incentives to attract investments is prevalent around the world. However, there is no definitive data on the global magnitude of incentives granted because not all countries collect and publicly report such data and there is no common methodology for reporting across all countries.
Budget 2019: With signs of rural distress looming large on economy, MGNREGA could be hope for bringing some cheer
January 31, 2019
Before coming to power in 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had accorded high priority to job-creation; with a promise of creating 10 million jobs being the highlight of the election campaigns. On the face of its professed emphasis on job-creation, the government is facing widespread criticism on account of its failure to create jobs.
Budget Math: How Accurate Have the Centre’s Past Revenue Estimates Been?
January 31, 2019
The Union Budget, in essence, gives details of how much the government plans to allocate for schemes and projects, and how much revenue it expects to collect in the ensuing financial year.
To Improve Quality Of School Education, India Must Spend More On Training Teachers
January 30, 2019
With nearly one in six elementary school teachers not professionally trained, India must improve its spending on teacher training–just 2% of the 2018-19 budget allocated for Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (‘holistic education programme’) was spent on teachers’ training institutes.
Course correction on urban agenda
January 30, 2019
It is clear by now that the rural and urban people are not separate topographical categories. The social, economic and political linkages between both centres are vital to enrich the economy. The Government must pay heed
Recent OP-Blogs
- In Bihar, low registration for a govt scheme keeps pregnant women from accessing healthcare
- What does the Interim Budget Say about Government Expenditure Priority?
- Empowering agriculture: Prioritising farmers and addressing sector challenges
- Need for SDG-linked outcome budgeting in India: A case of Assam
- How much did the Interim Budget push for India’s Climate Action?
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