-The Hindu Business Line At present, panchayats make no contribution to the design of schemes. Their autonomy is negligible. This needs to change Decentralisation has long been recognised as an efficient instrument for promoting economic democracy, and delivering services to meet the needs of people. There are three different channels for decentralisation — political, administrative and fiscal. Political decentralisation promotes trust and cooperation between government agencies and citizens. Administrative decentralisation enables authority...

-PTI/ Business Standard Assam has recorded a decline in its growth rate while its fiscal deficit, outstanding debt and public debt have increased significantly at the end of 2019-20, a CAG report said Guwahati: Assam has recorded a decline in its growth rate while its fiscal deficit, outstanding debt and public debt have increased significantly at the end of 2019-20, a Comptroller and Auditor (CAG) report on state finance for the period...

-TheWire.in The auctions let millers earn a bloated revenue of at least Rs 4,600 crore in four years from milling over 5.4 lakh tonnes of raw pulses, hammering government coffers and possibly the quality of daal, show documents. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government allowed millers to fatten themselves on tonnes of pulses meant for the poor by turning an auction procedure on its head. The Reporters’ Collective’s examination of auction archives shows...

-Newsclick.in Modi government has restrained spending of various ministries including education, social justice, environment and others. Continuing with its policy of cutting down spending, the central government has spent only 47% of the budgeted amount by the end of September 2021. That’s half of the financial year 2021-22 gone. This is a new low (see graph below), and bizarrely, it comes at a time when tax revenues have picked up. As can be...

-Livemint.com There is good reason to doubt the reported decline in the informal sector’s share of Indian GDP A State Bank of India (SBI) report that grabbed headlines recently suggests that India’s informal sector has shrunk dramatically in recent years. Given that the claim comes from the economic research team of a major state-owned financial institution, it deserves scrutiny. The SBI report examines the likely loss of output or gross domestic product (GDP)...