-The Hindu RTI data show that no cornea was collected in some States in 2021-22; Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh fare better; nearly 4.8 million are visually challenged in India Despite Central Government’s emphasis on improving eye-donations across the country—Goa, Jammu and Kashmir, some States of North-East and Island States— have had zero cornea collection in 2021-22 so far as per data procured through RTI. The data from 2016 onwards...

-Ideas for India The share of bank credit extended to MSMEs increased dramatically during the pandemic. In this post, Harsh Vardhan discusses the the government guarantee of bank loans as a possible driver of this growth. He outlines the current policy of providing credit against collateral, and the constraints MSMEs face while borrowing– which leads to decreased investment and firm productivity. He argues that the learnings from the credit guarantee scheme...

-The Hindu The government’s fiscal health will be brought into the political discourse with the proposed change, says TOP Election Commission of India official  The Election Commission of India’s (EC) proposal that political parties disclose the financial ramifications of promises in their manifestos was not linked to the recent debate on freebies, but was aimed at improving the implementation of existing guidelines, a TOP EC official said on Wednesday. The EC had on...

-PTI/ The Telegraph As the hearing commenced, a constitution bench headed by Justice S.A. Nazeer wondered if the matter survives consideration at this stage The Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will examine if the challenge to the Centre’s 2016 demonetisation decision has become a mere “academic exercise”, and posted it for consideration on October 12.  As the hearing commenced, a constitution bench headed by Justice S.A. Nazeer wondered if the matter survives...

-The Telegraph Bench says matter will be taken up along with similar pleas pending before SC The Supreme Court will on October 18 take up a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, which critics say is being increasingly used by parties in power against political opponents and journalists. The bench of Chief Justice U.U. Lalit and Justices S. Ravindra Bhat and J.B. Pardiwala,...