Insights

The agriculture sector in India has been facing a crisis and requires policy attention. Both the Union government and state governments have increased their spending on agriculture to revive the growth of the sector, but this should be analyzed for its long-term impact. Some state governments have launched their initiatives to provide direct financial support to farmers, but at least one of them must prioritize sector-wide support measures to achieve sustained improvements in agriculture and make farming a viable occupation. The various facets of essential agricultural development for the future are presented in this piece.

The reduction of the scholarship budget and low utilization of funds have contributed to poor education levels among religious minorities. The scholarship schemes face implementation issues, such as poor coverage of beneficiaries, low unit costs, and inadequate allocations of funds. The future effects of such a policy change are discussed in the article that follows.

The Supreme Court has urged the government and institutions to consider ways to regulate promises by political parties regarding welfare schemes. The discussion on freebies and populism should be viewed in the context of promoting essential goods and services to disadvantaged groups.

Recognising the foundational aspects of ECE, the new National Education Policy (NEP 2020) has recommended inclusion of children aged 3-6 years within the structure of the school system and universalisation of pre-primary education by 2030.  This important policy commitment of the Government of India needs to be backed by adequate resource support both from the Union Budget and the State Budgets in the coming years. This piece reflects on the same in the light of the upcoming Union Budget.

There is lot of debate going on introduction of GM mustard in India.  The recent approval of genetically modified (GM) mustard in India has sparked controversy, with many questioning the potential long-term effects of such crops. While India has previously approved GM crops like Bt cotton and Bt brinjal, the debate over the risks and benefits of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) continues.In this piece we discuss the financial implication of this decision for our economy and farmers market.

Contract farming has long been touted as a solution to the persistent agrarian crisis in Punjab by diverting large area of arable land away from the wheat-paddy cycle. Past experience of farmers indicates that contract farming dictates its own terms on quality issues, especially when the price of the produce in the open market crashes and buy back does not remain a profitable affair for companies. Therefore, contract farming is yet to make its mark in the state despite its presence since the early 1990s.

The OBS 2021, despite the limitations in its methodology (which are mainly because of its emphasis on globally comparable documents and practices), points to a number of areas of improvements in budget transparency that could be pursued at the national level in India. However, budget transparency in the Indian context, requires a much greater focus on the practices at the State, district and sub-district levels. Substantive improvements in budget transparency in India will require significant advances in public availability of locally relevant fiscal information at the district and sub-district levels across States.

Civil society organisations (CSOs) in India face a number of challenges in raising resources for carrying out their work effectively. In such a scenario, tax incentives for charitable donations become critical for CSOs. In fact the mere presence of tax incentives can signal the importance of CSOs in a society and encourage philanthropy within society.

New guidelines of PMS-SC were issued in 2021 to take corrective measures for the scheme. However, these efforts may miss the mark as the new fund sharing system is still limited with various conditions.

The Indian government, like many governments across the world, provides tax incentives for donations to charities. This article discusses how the tax incentives for donation in India compare with select other countries, and suggests how such policies can be made more enabling.

India’s second Union Budget (for FY 2022-23) during the pandemic, was expected to overcome the crisis , as done by almost all other countries in the world. The piece tries to examine the strategy employed by the budget and room for effecting an economic revival and equitable recovery through it.

The article highlights the Climate Actions in India’s Union Budget 22, and analyses the several entwined developments and their plausible aftermaths. It also details out mobilization of resources for Climate Finance including Blended finance, Green bonds etc., along with committed public finances, underscoring the need for a robust policy direction to mitigate the risk of “green washing” in related projects.