-The Indian Express Unused priority sector lending funds of commercial banks will be used to set up the Rs 20,000 crore corpus of the proposed MUDRA Bank. The bank will use at least 65 per cent of its funds for lending to micro enterprises run by members of scheduled castes and tribes. Typically, domestic commercial banks deposit their lending shortfall from priority sector to the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund of the NABARD...
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A sketchy road map for health policy -Nidhi Khurana
-The Hindu Much of the National Health Policy document reads like a report of health issues and systemic challenges, and is sorely wanting on policy detail Health impoverishment - falling into poverty due to health care costs - affects 63 million individuals in India every year. This is a damning statistic, especially when read with the fact that 18 per cent of all households face catastrophic health expenditures (health expenditure greater than...
More »How the Budget short-changed states' social security schemes -Nitin Sethi & Ishan Bakshi
-Business Standard States will now have to spend from their pockets to keep their social-sector schemes going The 2015-16 Budget seems to have broken the contract between the Centre and the states on sharing the economic burden for delivering social security. The Centre's assistance to the states for social sector schemes has come down from a budgeted Rs 3.56 lakh crore in FY15 to Rs 2.20 lakh crore in FY16. Effectively, while the...
More »Progress on the farm -Ajay Jakhar
-The Indian Express The Bharat Krishak Samaj (BSK) has long urged the merger of the agriculture ministry with the water resources and rural development ministries, in the interests of better coordination. With cooperative federalism gaining currency as an idea, that might just become possible. Now, the panchayati raj and food processing ministries could join the club, leaving agriculture, for all practical purposes, to the states, as envisaged by the Constitution. But...
More »Big budget cuts in education sector worry activists, NGOs
-Hindustan Times Massive budget cuts in the education sector in the 2015-16 Budget got activists and NGOs working in the sector worried. The outlay for programmes such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme, National Nutrition Mission, Rashtriya Madhayamik Shiksha Abhiyaan (RMSA) and mid-day meal scheme have seen significant cuts. The allocation for ICDS Scheme has been reduced from Rs 18,195 crore in 2014-15 budget estimates to Rs 8,335.8 crore in...
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