-Hindustan Times The 15th Finance Commission (FC) has to submit its report in October 2019, which will be another important event in the evolution of India’s fiscal federalism framework. The tenure of the Narendra Modi government has seen important changes in India’s fiscal federalism set-up such as the abolition of the Planning Commission (PC) and the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). The 15th Finance Commission (FC) has to submit...

  Growth in rural wages not only indicates economic prosperity of the masses, it is also considered important so as to generate effective demand for goods and services, which is produced by various sectors of the economy. When money becomes available in the hands of rural workers due to government spending on programmes such as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), it generates demand for commodities. The production of commodities...

-TheWire.in Any policy that seriously intends to reduce poverty and deprivation should increase social sector spending and look to universalise basic services. On Monday, Congress president Rahul Gandhi promised a minimum income guarantee scheme or Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) if voted to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The proposal involves a transfer of Rs 72,000 per year to 20% of the poorest families in India. He claimed that this “is...

-The Indian Express Instead of embarking on a massive administrative exercise with uncertain benefits, it is possible to think of another combination of public interventions that would actually ensure minimum income to a much larger proportion of the population. The Congress party’s recent declaration that, if voted to power, it will seek to ensure a minimum income to 20 per cent of the poorest households in the country, is laudable in...

-News18.com Considering how governments have handed forests to destructive industries, why don't these wildlife-first organisations demand the eviction of the Forest Departments from forest lands? IMAgine people who live in clearings inside an extensive dense forest, cultivating paddy, harvesting grass, bamboo, and mushrooms, and hunting the occasional deer. They stay awake at night, beating drums to tell their elephant brothers not to come for their hard-earned crop. Once the harvest is over,...