-The Hindu Only 6% of free chana due in July has been distributed New Delhi: Almost four out of ten people dependent on free food from the Centre did not receive their July allocation under a special scheme to help tide over the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told journalists on Friday, blaming States for their failure to distribute the free grains and pulses. In fact, as many as 11...
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The COVID-19 fiscal response and India’s standing -Amit Basole and Jonathan Coutinho
-The Hindu The relief measures do not seem to be commensurate with the economic disruption caused by the lockdown How does India compare in the quantity and quality of its COVID-19 response to other developing countries? Here we extend our earlier analysis of India’s fiscal response (The Hindu online, “India must enhance fiscal support for COVID-19 relief and rebuilding”, April 18, 2020) drawing on the International Monetary Fund Policy Tracker, the COVID-19...
More »Foodgrain stocks fall marginally despite PMGKAY -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express For July 1, the normative minimum stocks to run the targeted public distribution system (TPDS) and other welfare schemes, plus maintain a strategic reserve over and above that, are 27.58 mt of wheat and 13.54 mt of rice. Despite efforts at disposing of surplus foodgrains – including by distributing these free under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) and a special scheme for migrant labourers returning to...
More »How India Can Leverage Surplus Food Grain to Expand PDS Without Sacrificing Fiscal Prudence -Siraj Hussain and Jugal Mohapatra
-TheWire.in After Modi's decision to extend additional allocation of food grains under PMGKY until November, there are now three scenarios that can play out. On June 30, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the country, announced that the additional allocation of food grains under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKY) will be made available till November. This means that from April to November 2020, 71.17 crore people – classified...
More »Can raising the approved labour budget from 280.76 crore person-days to 306.6 crore person-days help the unskilled returnee migrants who prefer MGNREGA to Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan?
Although social activists and concerned economists demanded at least Rs. 1 lakh crore to be earmarked in favour of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Finance Minister in her budget speech on 1st February allocated only Rs.61,500 crore to it for the financial year 2020-21. As compared to the fund spent on MGNREGA in 2019-20 (i.e. revised estimate of Rs.71,001.81 crore), the amount set aside for the...
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