To banish hunger and malnutrition from the country, Parliament is likely to pass the National Food Security Bill (NFSB). In our earlier article on this issue, Can we Afford Rs 6-Lakh-Cr Food Subsidy Bill in 3 Yrs? (ET, December 17, 2011), we concentrated on the likely financial implication that we estimated at roughly Rs 6,00,000 crore over a period of three years. In this piece, we address the operational challenges...
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UGC fails to spend cash, wants more by Basant Kumar Mohanty
The University Grants Commission has demanded a four-fold hike in funds allocation in the 12th five-year Plan to create 10 million additional seats in higher educational institutions. The demand has come in spite of the higher education regulator managing to spend only 50 per cent of the Rs 46,449 crore allocated in the 11th Plan three months before the period ends. The UGC has submitted a detailed report to the HRD ministry,...
More »Two voices on Lokpal by Archis Mohan
A communications expert who advises the Prime Minister and a Harvard law graduate who helped Rahul Gandhi’s team draft the Lokpal bill differed on the need for an anti-corruption ombudsman, as the now-shelved legislation dominated an NRI meet today. Sam Pitroda and G. Mohan Gopal came up with different perspectives on the bill on the second day of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, held every year since 2003 to mark Mahatma Gandhi’s...
More »R&D spending can't stagnate at low levels, says Manmohan by P Sunderarajan
Research should find ‘frugal' solutions to food, energy problems Expressing concern that the expenditure on research and development in India has been “too low and stagnant,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday called upon industry to increase its contribution and stressed the need for enhanced public-private partnership (PPP) in science and technology. “It is in some way ironic that GE [General Electric] and Motorola have created world-class technology hubs in India, while...
More »FDI policy: Indian consumers should have more choice by Nirmalya Kumar
Most developing countries have a love hate relationship to foreign investment. They love the jobs that it creates, the technology that it accompanies, the additional choices that it provides, and the local millionaires/billionaires it creates through creative phased restrictions. On the other hand, since many developing countries have a colonial heritage, and cash is concentrated amongst developed world MNCs, the host are wary of it. The more nationalistic elements within a country...
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