-Livemint.com A partial hike in the MSP on paper was packaged by the govt as three fresh and historic steps for farmers’ welfare Minimum support price (MSP) is a fiction. It is a feel-good fiction. The farmers are free to sell their crop for as much as they wish, but should the prices fall below a minimum level, the government is there to help them. MSP is a sovereign guarantee that the state...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Union govt mulls grant for maternity leave
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The central government scheme to reimburse employers in the private sector 50% wages of the last 14 weeks of maternity leave will be funded by a Rs 400 crore allocation and is intended to counter the perception that extended maternity leave is deterring female employment. There will be a wage ceiling of Rs 15,000 a month for eligible women. On the status of the proposal, the...
More »The oil & rupee problem -Kirit Parikh
-The Indian Express A balanced approach can reduce petrol price without affecting revenues. RBI mustn’t artificially shore up rupee The Brent crude oil price has changed from around $68/barrel in January to $70/barrel on November 9, touching a high of $86 on October 3. The rupee has also fallen from Rs 63.30 per US$ in January to Rs 70 on November 9. These fluctuations have created major policy problems for the...
More »Govt seeks Rs 100cr funding for polio vaccine cost hike (after spending Rs 3000cr on showpiece statue) -GS Mudur
-The Telegraph Public health experts said the situation reflected India’s poor budget allocation for health programmes An impending price rise that is likely to raise India’s budget for a key vaccine by less than Rs 100 crore has prompted the government to seek an international donor’s help at a time it has built a showpiece statue for an estimated Rs 3,000 crore. Public health experts said the situation reflected India’s poor budget allocation...
More »Understanding the Problems of India's Sanitation Workers -Nirat Bhatnagar
-TheWire.in While no one can argue that India may moving in the right direction in terms of sanitation, all is not well. Despite increasing focus by the government and programmes such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, unsafe sanitation work, loosely captured under the catch-all phrase manual scavenging, still exists in India. There are five million people employed in sanitation work of some sort in India with about two million of them working...
More »