-The Hindu The Registrar-General of India (RGI) is preparing to conduct field trials of the first phase of the Census and the National Population Register (NPR) using a mobile application in all the States and Union Territories, a senior government official told The Hindu. The first phase involving house listing and housing census, along with updating the NPR, was scheduled from April 1 last year, but was postponed indefinitely due to the...

-The Indian Express Finance Commission has taken a judicious approach in weighing competing needs of Centre and states The terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commission were controversial and contentious. Several state governments had raised concerns over what they saw as attempts by the Centre to claw back the fiscal space and autonomy extended to them by the 14th Finance Commission. The concerns centred not only on the vertical (between Centre...

-Counterview.net Even as calling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s budget “historic”, top international NGO Oxfam, pointing towards “some gaps” in it, “especially while addressing inequalities on the lines of caste, class, gender and occupation”, has regretted that the budget “does not address the urgent spending needs in the social sector, especially in health and education.” In a statement, Oxfam India quotes CEO stating that “the Union Budget 2021 has failed to address inequality...

-IndiaClimateDialogue.net Protests by Indian farmers against three new farm laws have deep roots in income insecurity, which is driven by changing rainfall patterns and Incentives that promote the overuse of water The protests by Indian farmers against three laws initially passed as ordinances have gone from sporadic in August 2020 to the biggest peaceful civil society protest in the world. Despite 11 rounds of talks and the creation of a committee by...

Commenting on the recently released fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data for 17 states and five Union Territories (UTs) in an article published in The Indian Express (dated 6th January, 2021), Arvind Subramanian and his co-authors have stated that India has made progress on certain outcomes, including infant mortality rate (IMR), under-five mortality rate (U5MR) and neonatal mortality rate (NNMR). Relying on various rounds of NFHS data,...